In vitro studies on the trabecular meshwork of the primate eye.

Small pieces of the chamber angle region of a vervet eye containing only a lamella of the corneosclera and the trabecular meshwork were cultured in vitro and studied by light and electron microscopy at various intervals. The explanted trabecular meshwork underwent a rapid dedifferentiation. The activation of the trabecular cells is demonstrated by an increasing amount of encoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes and mitochondria. They are capable of phagocytosis for detritus and pigment granules. In the 45-day-tissue culture the trabecular cells revealed many lipid inclusions. In the culture the trabecular lamellae gradually dissolve, whereas the basement membranes and the elastic fibers remain unchanged for the longest. An increase or change in the clusters of lattice or curly collagen is not seen.