title: Morphological and morphometric aspects of primate cornea: a comparative study with human cornea.
abstract: Morphological and morphometric features of the cornea of 13 species of primates have been studied in order to determine possible morphological differences between them. The existence of relationships between different morphometric corneal variables was also examined to establish which variables best defined and characterized the cornea. The present aim is to determine which primate cornea resembles that of the human being most with a view to possible future clinical and experimental studies. The results obtained revealed that all the cornea under study presented similar morphological features. The relationship between total corneal thickness and corneal epithelial thickness was determined as well as the relationship between epithelial thickness, the number of epithelial layers and the number of epithelial cells. However, the morphological pattern of Bowman's membrane and corneal endothelium differed in the species studied. Finally, the study indicates that the chimpanzee and the gorilla are the species with a corneal morphometry which is closest to that of the human cornea.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Optica y Optometría. Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Merindano
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canals
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Potau
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ruano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000166:cytology*; D003319:Corneal Stroma / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology; D003886:Descemet Membrane / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D011323:Primates / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013045:Species Specificity