Axonal transport interruption and anatomy at the lamina cribrosa.

Pressure-induced, focal axonal transport abnormalities were studied in 14 cat eyes by the examination of serial step-section tissue radioautogram. Although the patterns of the transport interruption at the lamina cribrosa varied from eye to eye, the temporal sectors of the nerve head were most often involved by this abnormality. The anatomy at the lamina cribrosa was studied in adjacent (6 micrometers) cross-sectional specimens. The thickness of the extra-bundle trabeculae and the nerve fiber bundle dimensions including the cross-sectional area and the number and the shape (the ratio of the major and the minor axis diameters) of the laminar pores were measured by computer-assisted perimeter analysis. There was no correlation between the location of the transport interruption and any of these anatomic measurements.