Clinical implications of iridocorneal angle development.
Prenatal development of the iridocorneal angle was studied by scanning electron microscopy in 99 eyes from macaque monkeys, aged 60 days gestation and older. By the second gestational trimester, the angle is entirely lined by an intact endothelium. During the final trimester, concomitant with the development of aqueous outflow facility, this endothelium fenestrates and gradually "retracts" from iris to peripheral cornea, progressively exposing the underlying, well-developed trabecular meshwork. Only minor gestational delays, or reversal in adults of this endothelial "retraction" mechanism would mimic, respectively, the clinical pictures of congenital glaucoma and the iridocorneal endothelial syndromes.
D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000196:embryology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004727:Endothelium / Q000196:embryology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000151:congenital*; D007498:Iris / Q000196:embryology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008251:Macaca; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D014129:Trabecular Meshwork / Q000196:embryology* / Q000648:ultrastructure