Thermal effects on the trabecular meshwork induced by laser irradiation: clinical implications deduced from ultrastructural studies on the macaca speciosa monkey.

The pressure lowering effect brought about by irradiating the chamber angle with argon laser light according to Wise and Witter was studied by ultrastructural methods and was analysed in order to ascertain the mechanism responsible. To this end, the effects induced in 4 macaca speciosa monkeys by such irradiation were examined using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. It was noted that the phenomena observed depend critically on the precise location of the irradiation site. When the anterior trabecular meshwork is irradiated, a proliferation of monocellular, atypical corneal endothelium cells occurs which tightly surround the irradiation location. In irradiation of the posterior trabecular meshwork, however, this effect is much less prominent. In both cases, by the end of the twelfth week a progressive, lytic degeneration of the entire trabecular meshwork was observed which reached the inner wall of Schlemm's canal.