Light conductance in the ocular lens.
The collimated beam of a He-Ne laser aimed tangentially at the equator of submerged bovine or rabbit ocular lenses enters the lens and travels in the surface of the lens. We suggest that the effect is the result of light conductance along the interface between the bulk of the lens (including the lens epithelium on the anterior surface) as the medium of higher refractive index and the capsule as a medium of lower refractive index. Light conductance can be demonstrated in isolated lenses as well as in intact eyes. It is very sensitive to alterations of the state of the lens and therefore it may offer a new method to study very early stages of lens damage and cataract formation.
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007834:Lasers; D007903:Lens Capsule, Crystalline / Q000502:physiology; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008027:Light; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D011817:Rabbits; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013012:Sorbitol / Q000494:pharmacology; D013696:Temperature
D013012:Sorbitol