The trabecular mesh: a mathematical analysis.

The corneoscleral trabecular meshwork is a three-dimensional net of diagonally crossing collagenous fiber invested in endothelium. Tension on the mesh should cause it to tend to bow inward and hold Schlemm's canal open. Inward bowing is restrained by attachment of the outer mesh to the corneosclera, by meridional uveal mesh fibers, and by resistance to mesh element crossing to deformation. A lamella of meshwork is analyzed from a geometrical point of view, and it is found that even were the mesh free to assume an inward bowed hyperboloidal shape, the spur movement required to change mesh configuration from that of a cone frustum to hyperboloid would be only 0.047 mm and not readily recognizable gonioscopically.