Analyses of areas and shapes of cells on the corneal surface of the albino rabbit by scanning electron microscopy

Abstract

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.