The vitreous of the baby owl monkey. A model for rapid and complete gel-liquefaction.

The vitreous body of the baby owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatus) exists as a highly elastic gel composed of a collagen-like network. The owl monkey vitreous liquefies completely within the first 2 years of the Aotus life, corresponding to a human age of 8-10 years. Thus, Aotus provides the only known primate model for the rapid and complete liquefaction of the vitreous gel at an early age, the understanding of which may be of future relevance for clinical induction of therapeutic vitreous liquefaction.