Corneal brush cytology: an experimental study.
A total of 48 corneal smears from rabbits were obtained by means of brush, cotton swab and spatula techniques. The cytomorphologic features in those methods are compared. In the smears prepared by brush, numerous corneal epithelial cells were found. The cells were well spread in a single layer and overlapping was uncommon. The morphology of the corneal cells was satisfactory for cytologic evaluation. In contrast, the other two methods lacked adequate numbers of cells and cell preservation. We feel that corneal epithelial cells are readily obtainable by the brush method, compared with the cotton swab and spatula methods, and the material is also ideally suited for cytologic evaluation. It can be easily used for corneal cytology in clinical situations.
D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000166:cytology*; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011817:Rabbits