PURPOSE To determine the temporal and spatial expression of Pitx2, a bicoid-like homeobox transcription factor, during postnatal development of mouse extraocular muscle and to evaluate its role in the growth and phenotypic maintenance of postnatal extraocular muscle. METHODS Mouse extraocular muscles of different ages were examined for the expression of Pitx2 by RT-PCR, q-PCR, and immunostain...

PURPOSE The rectus extraocular muscles pass through fibromuscular connective tissue pulleys that stabilize muscle paths and control the direction of muscle pull. The authors investigated whether abnormal forces associated with superior oblique palsy can cause displacement of pulleys and muscle paths. METHODS Coronal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing significantly reduced superior obliq...

Ten cases of primary oculomotor nerve palsy due to head injury are presented. All ten patients had a dilated, non reactive pupil. Seven had complete oculomotor palsy. Two had partial extraocular palsy or blepharoptosis and one had neither extraocular palsy nor blepharoptosis. The initial ophthalmoplegia was recognized immediately after trauma. Nine patients had severely impaired consciousness o...

New growth of extraocular muscle has been demonstrated in degenerating peripheral nerve autografts implanted between two extraocular muscles. This suggests that extraocular muscle may be lengthened for therapeutic purposes if a suitable matrix can be found to support this new growth. Investigators of peripheral nerve regeneration have found that the basal lamina of freeze-killed skeletal muscle...

PURPOSE High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can now directly demonstrate innervation to extraocular muscles and quantify optic nerve size. A quantitative MRI technique was developed to study the oculomotor nerve (CN3) and applied to congenital fibrosis of extraocular muscles (CFEOM) and congenital oculomotor palsy. METHODS The subarachnoid portions of the CN3s were imaged with a ...

Third nerve paralysis has been known to be associated with a wide spectrum of presentation and other associated factors such as the presence of ptosis, pupillary involvement, amblyopia, aberrant regeneration, poor bell's phenomenon, superior oblique (SO) overaction, and lateral rectus (LR) contracture. Correction of strabismus due to third nerve palsy can be complex as four out of the six extra...

children with cerebral palsy (cp) suffer from several problems, so the family especially the mothers undertake a lot of social and emotional difficulties. the purpose of this study was to determine the severity of depression in mothers of children with cp in comparison with mothers who have normal children and its relation to the type of cp and severity of the disability. during this descriptiv...

The extraocular muscles are one of few skeletal muscles that are structurally and functionally intact in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Little is known about the mechanisms responsible for differential sparing or targeting of muscle groups in neuromuscular disease. One hypothesis is that constitutive or adaptive properties of the unique extraocular muscle phenotype may underlie their protection i...

Extraocular muscle biopsies from normal individuals and five patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy were analyzed by immunohistochemical staining. Fibroblasts in normal extraocular muscle as well as Graves' extraocular muscles expressed HLA-class II antigens, but the muscle cells did not. There was an increase of interstitial tissue in Graves' extraocular muscles but no visible damage to the musc...

PURPOSE The constant activity of the extraocular muscles is supported by abundant mitochondria. These organelles may enhance energy production by increasing the content of respiratory complexes. The authors tested the hypothesis that extraocular muscle mitochondria respire faster than do mitochondria from limb muscles because of the higher content of respiratory complexes. METHODS Inner mitoc...