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Cited by 50Corneal surgery and disordersOcular Disorders and TreatmentsCorneal Surgery and Treatments

A comparative study of vertebrate corneal structure: the evolution of a refractive lens

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Winkler, Moritz, Shoa, Golroxan, Tran, Stephanie T., Xie, Yilu, Thomasy, Sarah, Raghunathan, Vijay K., Murphy, Christopher, Brown, Donald J. +1 more·2015·Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science
DOI 10.1167/iovs.15-16584PMC PMC4416662
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Abstract

PURPOSE: Although corneal curvature plays an important role in determining the refractive power of the vertebrate eye, the mechanisms controlling corneal shape remain largely unknown. To address this question, we performed a comparative study of vertebrate corneal structure to identify potential evolutionarily based changes that correlate with the development of a corneal refractive lens. METHODS: Nonlinear optical (NLO) imaging of second-harmonic-generated (SHG) signals was used to image collagen and three-dimensionally reconstruct the lamellar organization in corneas from different vertebrate clades. RESULTS: Second-harmonic-generated images taken normal to the corneal surface showed that corneal collagen in all nonmammalian vertebrates was organized into sheets (fish and amphibians) or ribbons (reptiles and birds) extending from limbus to limbus that were oriented nearly orthogonal (ranging from 77.7°-88.2°) to their neighbors. The slight angular offset (2°-13°) created a rotational pattern that continued throughout the full thickness in fish and amphibians and to the very posterior layers in reptiles and birds. Interactions between lamellae were limited to "sutural" fibers in cartilaginous fish, and occasional lamellar branching in fish and amphibians. There was a marked increase in lamellar branching in higher vertebrates, such that birds ≫ reptiles > amphibians > fish. By contrast, mammalian corneas showed a nearly random collagen fiber organization with no orthogonal, chiral pattern. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that nonmammalian vertebrate corneas share a common orthogonal collagen structural organization that shows increased lamellar branching in higher vertebrate species. Importantly, mammalian corneas showed a different structural organization, suggesting a divergent evolutionary background.

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  • Mammalian corneas do not have an orthogonal arrangement of adjacent lamellae, whereas non-mammalian vertebrate corneas share a common orthogonal collagen structural organisation, suggesting a divergent evolutionary background.

    “The technique was recently used to show that mammalian corneas do not have an orthogonal arrangement of adjacent lamellae, whereas non-mammalian vertebrate corneas share a common orthogonal collagen structural organisation, which suggests that they have a divergent evolutionary background (Winkler et al., 2015).”

    From Corneal structure and transparency (2015) · cites this paper as Winkler et al., 2015

  • In the human cornea, there is no orthogonal arrangement between adjacent lamellae, not even in the posterior stroma.

    “Both scanning electron microscopy (Radner et al., 1998) and non-linear SHG microscopy (Winkler et al., 2015) have shown that, in the human cornea, there is no orthogonal arrangement between adjacent lamellae (Fig. 1b), not even in the posterior stroma.”

    From Corneal structure and transparency (2015) · cites this paper as Winkler et al., 2015

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Research works printed but not linked: 23

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Authors
Winkler, M., Shoa, G., Tran, S. T., Xie, Y., Thomasy, S., Raghunathan, V. K., Murphy, C., Brown, D. J., & Jester, J. V.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Irvine (US)
  • University of California, Davis (US)
Corresponding author
Jester, James V.
ORCID
Venue
Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science
Publisher
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Published
2015-04-30
Volume
56
Issue
4
Pages
2764
ISSN
  • 0146-0404 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-5783
DOI
10.1167/iovs.15-16584
PMC
PMC4416662
OpenAlex
W2400665456
Cited by
50
References
0
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2
FWCI
5.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Eye Institute (EY018665, R01EY018665)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Corneal surgery and disorders
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Ocular Disorders and Treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Corneal Surgery and Treatments
Keywords
corneal collagen, corneal structure, corneal curvature, lamellar structure, collagen fiber orientation, Chondrichthyes, mammals, non-mammalian vertebrates, second harmonic generation microscopy
MeSH terms
Amphibians, Anatomy, Comparative, Animals, Birds, Collagen, Cornea, Biological Evolution, Fishes, Humans, Lens, Crystalline, Mammals, Reptiles, Species Specificity, Surface Properties, Vertebrates, Nonlinear Dynamics, Microscopy, Confocal, Imaging, Three-Dimensional

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