Studies in relation to endocrine exophthalmos: the biochemical composition of human retrobulbar connective tissue.

As part of studies on the pathogenesis of exophthalmos of Graves' disease, the biochemical composition of human retrobulbar tissue was investigated. The connective tissue was composed of 72.7% lipid, 23.8% water and 3.5% dried defatted tissue. Total tissue glycosaminoglycan (GAG) amounted to 0.18% of dried defatted tissue. Approximately 27% of the total hexosamine and 19% of the total tissue galactosamine were recovered in the GAG fraction. Cellulose microcolumn fractionation of GAG showed that the hyaluronic acid and dermatan sulfate were the two major GAG species.