Occurrence of catecholaminergicnerve fibers in the human uveoscleral tissuein conditions of normal and raised intraocular pressure

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• 作者：Carlo Cavallotti ; Nicola Pescosolido ; Marco Artico ; Elena Pacella and Daniela Cavallotti
• 关键词：catecholaminergic nerves ; human eye ; intraocular pressure ; norepinephrine ; uveoscleral tissue
• 刊名：International Ophthalmology
• 出版年：2001
• 出版时间：2001
• 年：2001
• 卷：24
• 期：3
• 页码：133-139
• 全文大小：238 KB
• 刊物类别：Medicine
• 刊物主题：Medicine & Public Health
  Ophthalmology
  
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1573-2630

文摘

The distribution of catecholaminergic nerve fibers (CNF) in human uveoscleral tissue was studied in six human eyes with normal intraocular pressure and in five eyes with increased pressure. The eyes with increased pressure had no visual field alterations and the patients did not have anyglaucoma-related opticneuropathies. The amount of norepinephrine in these structures was also analysed. Catecholaminergic nerve fibers were detected by means of fluorescence microscopy and were counted using the quantitative analysis of images. Our results demonstrate that the occurrence of catecholaminergic nerve fibers (expressed in Conventional Units = C.U.) in human uveoscleral tissue is 15.4 ± 1.6 C.U. in eyes with normal intraocular pressure. In eyes with increased intraocular pressure, these values were 12.2 ± 1.2 C.U. Moreover, the amount of norepinephrine in tissue homogenates of the same eyes was evaluated and found to be 21.7 ± 1.3 g/gr tissue fresh weight of the human uveoscleral tissue in eyes with normal intraocular pressure. This value decreased to 18.8 ± 1.1 g/gr tissue fresh weight in the same tissue in conditions of raised intraocular pressure. In these experiments, the small number of eyes examined made it difficult to draw general conclusions. However, the role of human uveoscleral tissue was emphasized by the rich catecholaminergic innervation. A decrease of catecholaminergic nerve fibers and norepinephrine occurs when intraocular pressure is elevated. The modifications of these parameters, involved in the sympathetic control of aqueous humor outflow, may support the hypothesis of a possible relevant role for the human uveoscleral tissue in different pathological conditions.