ANATOMY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE CORNEA OF BOVINE EYES FROM A SLAUGHTERHOUSE

Over a I-year period, isolated bovine eyes were obtained from a slaugh terhouse and assessed within 3 h post mortem. The gross disposition (i ncluding damage or disease) and corneal surface characteristics (overa ll appearance and wettability) were assessed by visual inspection and light and scanning electron microscopy. The results from 315 eyes (ass essed to be free of gross abnormalities or damage) showed that the cor neal thickness was 1015 +/- 104 mu m (mean +/- SD; n = 315). Measures on 100 of these eyes revealed corneal dimensions averaging 29.8 +/- 1. 3 mm horizontally and 23.9 +/- 1.5 mm vertically. The horizontal corne al diameter was greater in eyes with thicker corneas (r = 0.917). Rega rdless of thickness, corneas evaluated within 3 h post mortem had a un iform thickness within +/- 3 % from center to edge. Histology and scan ning electron microscopy revealed that even corneas subjectively asses sed to be in good condition had relatively large numbers of exfoliatin g cells at the epithelial surface, indicating that the corneal surface of bovine eyes from the slaughterhouse is likely to be slightly compr omised. Scanning electron microscopy showed the endothelium to be a mo saic of uniformly sized polygons of which 67.1 +/- 2.7 % were six-side d cells (hexagons).