Applied anatomy of the eye- diseases of eye Flashcards
What 3 main things do we need to see?
- clear cornea
- clear lens
- functioning retina and optic nerve
list other structures needed to see
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
Edinger Westphal nucleus
CN III nucleus
CN IV nucleus
CN VI nucleus
Vestibular nuclei (gaze stability)
Occipital lobe- accommodation reflex, pursuit eye movements
Frontal lobe- voluntary eye movements
The cornea
function
made up of how many layers. name the layers
main function: refraction of light so that it correctly lands on the retina
made up of 5 layers
- epithelium
- Bowman’s layer
- Stroma (keratinocytes)
- Descemet’s membrane
- Endothelium
Epithelium of the cornea
- several layers of cells
- barrier to water and bacteria entering the cornea
- maintains a smooth optical surface for refraction
constantly replaced
Endothelium of cornea
single layer of hexagonal cells
allows transport of nutrients (inc. glucose)
pumps water out to maintain clairty of stroma
never replaced
what are the 3 types of refractive error
- myopia (short sight)
- hypermetropia (long sight)
- astigmatism- defect in the eye lens caused by a deviation from a spherical curvature
what is emmetropia
normal vision
what shape of lens is used to fix:
- myopia
- hypermetropia
- astigmatism
concave lenses
convex lenses
cylindrical lens with a steeper vertical axis than horizontal
examples of corneal disease
- corneal ulcer
- corneal dystrophy
- corneal oedema
- corneal graft
the lens
does it refract light?
what is its main function
some refraction
main function is accomodation/ fine focus: circumferential ciliary muscle contracts, allowing the lens capsule to relax, meaning the lens becomes more spherical
what is cataract
causes of cataracts
how do you treat cataracts
clouding of the lens due to degradation of proteins in the lens
- age
- diabetes
- corticosteroids
- congenital
- trauma
surgery to remove the lens and replace
the retina
consists of how many layers? name the layers
the innermost sensory membrane found on the inner surface of the posterior aspect of the eye. Contains many photoreceptors
13 layers
- nerve fibre
- ganglion cell
- inner plexiform
- inner nuclear
- outer plexiform
- outer nuclear
- external limiting membrane
- inner segment of photoreceptors
- IS/OS junction
- outer segment of photoreceptors
- retinal pigment epithelium
- Bruch’s membrane
- choroid
districution of cones and rods in the retina
cones- increasing concentration towards fovea
rods- none at fovea nit evenly spread throughout retina
what are the 2 kinds of photoreceptor in the eye
what kind of vision does each give
which light pigments are found in each
rods and cones
rods-scotopic vision stimulated by light over a wide range of intensities and are responsible for perceiving the size, shape, and brightness of visual images. They do not perceive colour and fine detail,
cones- high light photopic vision- colour vision, works best at high light levels
rods- rhodopsin
cones- iodopsin
how many kinds of opsins are present in cones?
what are the 3 colours
there are 3 different opsins found in cones however one type always predominates
blue
green
red
process of phototransduction
Light waves enter the pupil after being refracted from the tear layer and cornea.
- The lens further refracts the light onto the retina which is where the photoreceptors are populated (specifically the fovea)
- Photons from the light are absorbed by the photopigment (rhodopsin/iodopsin), specifically by opsin. This tunes the light and detects the particular wavelength on the spectrum.
- The absorption of light triggers the activation of transducin which activates a phosphodiesterase that hydrolyses cGMP.
- In darkness, high levels of cGMP in the outer segment keep sodium channels open, however in the light cGMP levels drop and some of the channels close leading to hyperpolarization of the outer segment. This ultimately reduces the opening of Calcium channels at the synaptic membrane and reduces glutamate being released into the synapse
- In the dark, the photoreceptors are in a depolarized state (membrane potential of roughly -40mV). As there is a progressive increase in the intensity of light, it causes the potential across the receptor membrane to become more negative (reaching -65mV)
- The drop in the glutamate neurotransmitter signals that light is present
- Photoreceptors in the outer plexiform layer stimulate horizontal cells which helps to identify the information that is passing through.
- Alongside this, the bipolar cells create direct or indirect connections to the ganglion cells in the inner plexiform layer
- The ganglion cells process the electrical information (alongside the amacrine cells). Their axons collectively form the initial part of optic nerve.
- The optic nerve (cranial nerve II) exits via the optic disc on the retina
a. Anything from the nasal visual field is projected onto the temporal retina
b. Anything from the temporal visual field is projected onto the nasal retina
c. (for example, light from the right visual field will hit the left eye’s temporal retina while hitting the right eye’s nasal retina) - After the formation of the optic nerve, it leaves the bony orbit via the optic canal, a passageway through the sphenoid bone. It then enters the cranial cavity running along the surface of the middle cranial fossa.
- The optic nerve meets at the chiasm in which;
- Axons from the nasal retina cross over to the opposite sides, while the temporal retina information remain on the same side (this means that all information from the left visual field stay together and all information from the right visual field stay together)
- The optic tract then synapses with the cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (part of the thalamus)
- Information from the contralateral side goes to layers 1, 4 and 6 of the LGN while information from the ipsilateral side goes to layers 2,3 and 5
- It then travels to the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe via two main pathways;
a. Upper optic radiation – (baum loop) this pathway carries fibres from the superior retinal quadrants (corresponding to the inferior visual field quadrants)
b. Lower optic radiation – (Meyers loop) carries fibres from the inferior retinal quadrants (corresponding to the superior visual field quadrants) - In the higher visual centre, it takes either the;
a. Dorsal pathway (to parietal cortex) which subserves spatial vision providing an image of where the object is
b. Ventral pathway (to inferotemporal cortex) providing an image of what the object is
examples of retinal diseases (5)
Colour blindness
Retinal vascular occlusion
Diabetes
Macular degeneration
Retinal detachment
colour blindness
anomaly if malfunctioning
anopia if vision is absent
red-green colour blindness is most common
tested for using ishihara plates
can be due to a genetic cause- X linked recessice- affects men more
central retinal artery occlusion
If the retina loses blood supply then the retina thins as cells die
Vision is very poor
diabetic retinopathy
Small blood vessels leak or get blocked. Leaks lead to oedema, exudation and haemorrhage in inner retinal layers.
Wet age related macular degeneration
New blood vessels grow from the choroid through the Retinal pigment epithelium. These leak and bleed causing oedema and haemorrhage in the outer retinal layers. This causes distorted vision as photoreceptors are displaced.
Why do we get distrotion with wet ARMD?
Each cone is responsible for seeing one part of the face and that is mapped exactly onto the occipital cortex.
If oedema separates the cones their pixels will be different.
The brain assembles the image as though cones are in the correct place, therefore, the image appears distorted.
retinal detachment
who is at a greater risk (2)
symptoms
Myopic or trauma are more prone to it.
As we age the vitreous which acts as a scaffold, keeping the retina in place, degenerates and become more liquid. The retina can move around. If the retina is still attached to some of the vitreous humor, the traction can cause a tear to form, through which fluid can leak behind the retina and cause detachment.
- Flashing lights
- Floaters
- Shadow appearing in vision
Important to get retina attached ASAP, while it is not, the photoreceptors are not receiving adequate blood supply.
the optic nerve
describe the arterial supply to the retina and optic nerve
AKA CN II
composed of retinal ganglion cell axons and glial cells
- extends from the optic disc to the optic chiasma and continues as the optic tract to the lateral geniculate nucleus, pretectal nuclei, and superior colliculus.
- Fibres from superior part of the retina enter the superior part of the optic nerve with the inferior going inferior. Damage to the superior portion will cause inferior field defect.
- Central retinal artery does not supply blood to the optic nerve but just to the retina. The optic nerve is perfused by the posterior ciliary arteries.
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