title: Adult vitreous structure and postnatal changes.
abstract: This review will focus on the molecular organisation of the adult vitreous and how it undergoes ageing changes throughout life that result in vitreous liquefaction and a predisposition towards posterior vitreous detachment and retinal break formation. At birth, the vitreous humour is in a gel state due to the presence of a network of fine collagen fibrils. With ageing, these collagen fibrils progressively aggregate due to a loss of type IX collagen from their surfaces. The aggregation of collagen fibrils may cause vitreous liquefaction which, when combined with an age-related weakening of postbasal vitreoretinal adhesion, predisposes to posterior vitreous detachment. Throughout postnatal life, the posterior border of the vitreous base migrates posteriorly from the ora serrata into the peripheral retina. This is due to new collagen synthesis by the peripheral retina. This new collagen intertwines with pre-existing cortical vitreous collagen to create new adhesions and thereby extends the vitreous base posteriorly. If irregularities in the posterior border of the vitreous base arise from this process, there is a predisposition towards retinal break formation during posterior vitreous detachment and subsequent rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, Faculty of Life Sciences and Academic Unit of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Le Goff
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Bishop
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000737:chemistry; D003094:Collagen / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D000071837:Fibrillins; D019812:Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000737:chemistry; D012160:Retina / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D012163:Retinal Detachment / Q000209:etiology; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D020255:Vitreous Detachment / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D000071837:Fibrillins; D019812:Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; C404108:OPTC protein, human; D011509:Proteoglycans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid; D003094:Collagen