Vitreoretinal Juncture; Topographical Variations

¹ Department of Pathology and the Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, Calif.

Topographical variations in the fine structure at the vitreoretinal juncture were studied in five surgically enucleated eyes from young adults. Based on characteristic ultrastructural features, three major zones (basal, equatorial, and posterior) and two special sites in the posterior zone (foveal and papillary) were identified. The basal lamina of retina (inner limiting lamina, [ILL]) was uniformly thin (510 A) within the basal zone, but progressively and irregularly thickened in the equatorial zone (sixfold) and posterior zone (37-fold). Attachment plaques in the vitreal surface of Mueller cells (anchoring lamina to cell) were present in the basal and equatorial zones, but not in posterior zone. The fovea showed marked thinning of the ILL and attachment plaques. In the papillary site, the ILL abruptly thinned to form the basal lamina of optic disk; occasionally there were gaps in the ILL, through which glial cells extended to form epipapillary membranes (often incarcerating vitreous). In the basal zone, "degenerative remodeling" of the vitreoretinal juncture was relatively common; this included ruptures of the ILL (with loss of attachment plaques in underlying Mueller cells) and sometimes deeper surface changes causing crypt formation and penetration of vitreous body. The use of term "inner limiting lamina" for basal lamina of retina is discussed in light of new knowledge of basal lamina elsewhere in the body. Attachment plaques of Mueller cells are considered in relation to analogous systemic structures and to vitreous traction.

Key Words: vitreous body • retina • juncture • ultrastructure • topographical variation • basal lamina • attachment • vitreous base • equatorial • posterior • fovea • papillary • inner limiting membrane

Submitted on June 26, 1972
Accepted on July 18, 1972

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