THE 3-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE CONNECTIVE-TISSUE IN THE LAMINA-CRIBROSA OF THE HUMAN OPTIC-NERVE HEAD

Comprehensive understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the lamina cribrosa is central to unders tanding its role in health and disease, particularly how changes in co nfiguration might precipitate nerve fibre death in glaucoma. Research until recently has relied almost entirely on light and scanning electr on microscopy (SEM) to investigate the ECM of the lamina cribrosa. In this paper, we review the contribution of these methods to current und erstanding of the three-dimensional structure of the lamina ECM, highl ight their potential weaknesses and emphasise that there is still much to be revealed about the structure of the lamina ECM. We then describ e our development of confocal microscopy and computer reconstruction a s a new and alternative method of investigating the three-dimensional structure of the lamina ECM. We show how optical sectioning allows the confocal microscope to acquire three-dimensional images of the lamina ECM without the degree of tissue disruption associated with preparati on for SEM and demonstrate the versatility of analysis of these images by computer reconstructive software. A case is made for confocal micr oscopy and computer reconstruction contributing to our understanding o f this important but complex and delicate structure.