[Ultrastructural aspects of chloroquin-keratopathy (author's transl)].

This reports deals with ultrastructural findings in chloroquin-keratopathy on the basis of three cases. Cytoplasmic inclusions are found in the corneal epithelium, alternately in the form of lamellar bodies, dense bodies, or as vacuoles with a variable content. Similar results are reported in the literature with other drugs and permit the conclusion that a pathologic mechanism depending on the amphiphilic character of these substances is involved. Thus they are able to undergo reactions with phosphilipids, disturbing the normal phosphilipid catabolism and leading to a drug-induced phospholipidosis.