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THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENDOTHELIUM OF DESCEMET'S MEMBRANE, THE CORNEA AND THE ANTERIOR CHAMBER OF THE EYE

1928; BMJ; Volume: 12; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/bjo.12.9.479

1468-2079

A. Hagedoorn,

Glaucoma and retinal disorders

IN SO far as embrvology is concerned, ophthalmology forms a happy and notable exception to the general trend of modern medi- cine towards intense specialisation.Instead of being of semi- detached and somewhat academic interest, embryology has taken a real and integral share in the clinical applications of ophthalmo- logy, and tlle greater part of recent research on ocular formation and growth lhas been uindertaken by ophthalmologists working with the solution of clinical problems as their ultimate aim This clinical interest witlh which embryological questions are associated is accounted for by three factors.In the first place, recent improvements in the methods of examination of the living eye have rendered possible the recognition of its individual struc- tural variations with a greater minuteness than is possible else- where, and the explanation of many of these is purely embryo- logical.Moreover, the diagnosis of congenital from acquired conditions is frequently more difficult and important in the eye than elsewhere in the body, and decisions upon many questions of importance can only be made in the light of a knowledge of normal and abnormal development.Finally, both morphological and physiological problems may be considerably clarified in many cases by an appeal to the ontogeny of the phylogenetically related species."(Duke-Elder).The endotlhelium, first mentioned bv Pappenheim in 1842, is becoming of increasing clinical importance, especially since the discovery of the slit-lamp, and on that account Professor Zeeman urged me to study these cells, beginning with their embryology.Material and literature proved very interesting, not least with respect to the cornea and the anterior chamber of the eye, the development of these being inseparably connected with that of the endothelium.An exact knowledge of the embryology of a cer- tain cell or organ is of importance for the understanding of adult structures, and of physiological and pathological phenomena.This rule must be specially emphasised for the endothelium of Descemet's membrane.In the first instance its development is the only argument for the name endothelium.And though, e.g., after Ranvier and Virchow, it is spoken of as an epithelium because of its histological qualities, in recent literature the name endothe- 479 copyright.