ANALYSES OF AREAS AND SHAPES OF CELLS ON THE CORNEAL SURFACE OF THE ALBINO RABBIT BY SCANNING ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY

The surface of 8 different corneal quadrants was assessed by scanning electron microscopy. Cells were identified by their electron reflex (light, medium, dark) and their areas, longest and shortest dimensions measured using a manual digitizer tablet/computer-interfaced system. Analyses of over 8200 cells show that while light cells are predominantly small (uncorrected mean area of 39.7 μm2), there can be light cells ten times larger than this. Medium reflex cells show a very wide range of area (uncorrected values ranging from 16 to 1257 μm2) while dark reflex cells show an even wider range (24 to 2218 μm2). Analysis of the longest to shortest dimensions (LS ratio) reveals light cells to be more elongate than medium cells while dark cells tend to be rounder. © 1990 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.