The pseudo-exfoliation syndrome. A scanning electron microscopic study. II. The posterior chamber region.

The distribution of pseudo-exfoliation (PE) material as well as the finer details of its surface has been studied by scanning electron microscopy on the surfaces facing the posterior chamber. The specimens were fixed in glutaraldehyde and OSO4 and dried by the critical point method, after careful dissection of the anterior hyaloid surface. Granules and plaques of PE material were found to attach to the iris, to the ridges of the ciliary processes, to the zonules, and along radial stripes on the anterior hyaloid surface, one for each zonule touching this surface. It seems as if the PE material is located mainly on sites on contact between two surfaces. In high mangnification it is found that the surface of the PE material is formed by an irregular meshwork of fibrils, the diameter of which is about 550-700 A. The fibrils are characteristically coiled, partly into regular spirals. The hypothesis is put forward that these fibrils are formed by a condensation of mucopolysaccharides forming the ground substance of the PE material.