Anatomy and

Physiology
of the Eye
Dr. Silvestre A. Pascual Jr.
Department of Ophthalmology
Out li ne
1. THE GLOBE
2. THE OUTER COAT
• The Cornea
 The Corneal Epithelium
 The Corneal Stroma
 The Descemet’s Membrane
 The Endothelium
• The Sclera
• The Corneoscleral Limbus
Out li ne
1. THE MIDDLE COAT
• The Iris
• The Ciliary Body
• The Choroid
2. THE INNER COAT
• The Retina
• The Photoreceptor
• The Modulator Cells
• The Transmitter Cells
• The Supporting Cells
• Regions of the Retina
Out li ne
1. CHAMBERS OF THE EYE
• Aqueous Humor
• Vitreous Humor
2. LENS
3. ZONULES
THE GLOBE
 Occupies the front half
of the orbit

 Only the anterior third

is exposed consisting
of the cornea and
sclera

 The exposed sclera is

covered by the bulbar
conjunctiva
THE GLOBE
 Has three main
layers or coats:
o Outer: cornea,
sclera, corneoscleral
limbus
o Middle: iris, ciliary
body, choroids
o Inner: retinal
pigment epithelium
and retina
THE GLOBE
 Has 3 chambers:
o Anterior Chamber (w/
aqueous humor)
o Posterior Chamber (w/
aqueous humor)
o Vitreous Chamber (w/
vitreous humor)

 Contains a crystalline
lens located immediately
behind the iris
THE GLOBE
AP length of 22-26 mm (ave.24mm)
Circumference 69-81mm (ave.75mm at the
equator)

Volume of the globe = about 6ml

THE OUTER COAT
Composed of tough fibrous tissues
shaped as segments of 2 spheres:
o Transparent cornea (anterior 1/6)
o White opaque sclera (posterior 5/6)

The junction of the cornea and sclera

known as the corneoscleral limbus
contains the Trabecular Meshwork and
Canal of Schlemm

Focusing light and protecting contents of

the globe
The Cornea
 Has an average
radius of curvature of
7.5mm
 Functions as the
MAIN refracting
structure of the eye
 Composed mostly of
collagen fibers
(transparent) regular
both in size and
arrangement
The Cornea
 It is thinnest at the center (0.5mm) and thickest
at the periphery (1.0mm)
The Cornea

 Has 5 layers:
o Epithelium
o Bowman’s layer
o Stroma
o Descemet’s
membrane
o Endothelium
The Cor neal
Epit hel ium
 Composed of
stratified squamous
epithelium, 5-6 layers

 Epithelial cells form

in the deepest layer,
become
progressively flatter
and are shed 7 days
later
Basal columnar Wing cells Stratified squamous
cells cells
The Cor neal
Epit hel ium
 Basement membrane of the basal cells
are adherent to the Bowman’s layer, the
acellular anterior portion of the stroma,
resistant to passage foreign bodies or
infective organisms
The Cor neal St roma
 Form 90% of the
corneal thickness

 Contain regularly
shaped and sized
lamellae of collagen
fibers secreted by
interspersed
keratocytes
The Des cemet’s
Membr ane
 The basement membrane of the endothelial
cells of the cornea
 Terminates abruptly in the periphery of the
cornea forming SCHWALBE’S line, the anterior
border of the Trabecular Meshwork
The Endo the lium
 Single layer of
mesothelium, the
apices of which are
in direct contact with
aqueous humor.

 Responsible for
deturgesence of the
stroma

 Does not regenerate

in adult humans
The Sclera
 Dense fibrous
collagenous structure
comprising the
posterior 5/6 of the
outer coat
 Is thickest at the
region surrounding
the optic nerve and
thinnest immediately
posterior to muscle
insertion
The Sclera
The posterior scleral
foramen through
which the optic
nerve exits is cone
shaped and bridged
by a sieve like
structure, the lamina
cribrosa
Has three layers: the
episclera, stroma,
 The Sclera
 The episclera is the outermost
layer of moderately
vascularized connective tissue.
It is attenuated posterior to the
equator, making it relatively
avascular
 The scleral stroma is
composed of collagen fibers
irregular in size and
arrangement
 The lamina fusca is the
innermost layer made of fine
collagen
Which is Cornea?
Sc le ra?
The Corneoscleral
Limbus
 Is a transitional zone about 1.5mm in diameter
 Inner part of corneoscleral limbus is the
Trabecular Meshwork which is where aqueous
humor is drained
The Corneoscleral
Limbus
 Also contain the Canal of Schlemm, an oval channel
line by a single layer of endothelium that drain aqueous
humor from Trabecular Meshwork.
 25-35 collector channels connect with the Canal of
Schlemm which drain the aqueous humor to the
anterior ciliary and episcleral veins
THE MIDDLE COAT
 Composed of the iris,
ciliary body and choroid
 Iris limits the amount of
light entering the eye
 Ciliary body produces
aqueous and the
accomodation of the lens
 Choroid provides the
blood supply of the outer
half of the retina
The Iris
 The iris is a diaphragm
that lies in front of the
lens and ciliary body
 The anterior surface is
divided by the collarette
into a central pupillary
zone and a peripheral
ciliary zone
 Composed of an anterior
stroma and a posterior
pigmented epithelium
 The Iris
 The anterior stroma
has 2 layers:
o Anterior border layer
composed of loose
collagen tissue densely
packed with pigmented
and nonpigmented
cells.
o Stroma proper
consists of bundles of
collagen fibrils . It has
more elastic tissues and
fewer pigmented cells
The Iris
 The pigmented
epithelium has 2
layers of cells
densely packed with
melanin:
o The iris sphincter
muscles and dilator
muscles are located
between the iris
pigmented epithelium
and the stroma proper
The Iris
 Blood supply
- is formed by the 2 long posterior ciliary
arteries and 7 anterior ciliary arteries
- at the iris root is found the major arterial
circle of the iris
- radial arteries travel the iris and form the
minor arterial circle at the area of the collarette
 The Ciliary Body
 Is a ring of tissue
about 6mm wide
located posterior to
the iris root
 Has 2 parts:
o The uveal portion
-is composed of 3
layers of smooth
muscles: longitudinal,
radial and circular
-function is mostly
for accommodation
 The Ciliary Body
o The epithelial portion
-is divided into:
• pars plicata - forms the anterior
2mm and consists of 60-70 folds
on ciliary processes. Each ciliary
process is made of an outer
nonpigmented epithelium and an
inner pigmented epithelium.
Secretion of aqueous humor is
the main function of the
nonpigmented epithelium.
• pars plana - forms the posterior
4mm of the epithelial portion
 The Choroid
 Is the vascular sheet that
provides the blood supply of
the retinal pigment
epithelium and outer half of
the retina
 Extends from ora serrata to
the optic nerve
 Composed of 3 layers of
blood vessels: the outer
vascular layer of Haller,
middle vascular layer of
Sattler and Choriocapillaris
 They are bounded by fibrous
tissues: the Lamina Fusca
and Bruch’s membrane
THE INNER COAT
 The Retina
 Receptor and
Processor of images
 Innermost film that
receives, modulates
and transmits light
impulses to form
images
The Retina
 Its anterior border is the ora serrata and
extends posteriorly up to the optic nerve
 Composed of the retinal pigment epithelium
and the sensory retina
The Retina
 The retinal pigment
epithelium is a
single layer of
hexagonal cells rich
in melanin pigment
which functions to
trap light
The Retina
 The sensory retina
is made of layers of
cells composed of
receptor neurons and
glial cells to receive,
modulate and
transmit images to
the brain
The
Phot ore cep tors:
Rods & Con es
 Specialized
receptors which
receives images
 2 cell types: rods for
dark vision and
cones for light vision
as well as color
vision
 Macular lutea (only
cones are found) –
temporal to the optic
disc
The M odu lator
Cell s
 Light received by
photoreceptors are
then processed by
modulator cells

 3 types of cells:
bipolar, horizontal
and amacrine cells
The M odu lator
Cell s
 Bipolar cell dendrites
attach to
photoreceptors and
the axons synapse
with ganglion cells
 The M odu lator
Cellcellsdendrites
 Horizontal
attach to several adjacent
photoreceptors and the
axons synapse with several
photoreceptors in a distant
part of the retina and some
to bipolar cells. Horizontal
cells act as condensers
collecting impulses from
groups of photoreceptors,
integrate and trigger a visual
impulse
The M odu lator
Cell s
 Amacrine cells
processes are oriented
in the opposite direction
in terms of light
transmission. Their
processes attach to
groups of ganglion cells
and bipolar cells. They
are believed to inhibit
integration of visual
impulse
The Tran smi tte r
Cell s:
Gan
 Transmitgli on Cell s
the visual
impulses from bipolar and
amacrine cells to the
midbrain
 Physiologically, they
transmit either visual
impulses to the midbrain
(LGB) or afferent impulses
of the light reflex (IC)
 Axons of the ganglion cells
form the nerve fiber layer
The Tran smi tte r
Cell s:
Gan gli on Cell
 The nerve fibers from the
s
ganglion cells converge to
exit the eye through the
lamina cribrosa as the optic
nerve
 Intraocularly, it is viewed as
the vertically oval shaped
optic disc
 At the center of the disc is a
depression known as the
optic cup
The Supp ort ing
Cell s:
Müll er C
 Müller cells are large
ells
astrocytes that
mechanically support
the retina
 Also known as retinal
“nurse cells” as they are
believed to provide the
retina enzymes used for
glycolysis
Regions of the
Retina
 Ora serrata
 Central retina (macular
lutea)
 Fovea centralis
 Peripheral retina
CHAMBERS OF
THE EYE
 Anterior chamber
–aqueous humor

 Posterior chamber
–aqueous humor

 Vitreous chamber
– vitreous humor
Aqueous Humor
 Fluid that fills the
anterior and posterior
chamber
 Provides nutrients to the
avascular tissues
 Secreted by the
nonpigmented
epithelium of the ciliary
body and drained
through the Trabecular
meshwork
 Volume is about 0.2mL
 Vitreous Humor
 Fills the vitreous cavity
 Attached firmly to the
periphery at the ora
serrata and posteriorly to
the rim of the optic nerve
and the central retina
 Mainly composed of
salts, protein, hyaluronic
acid and 98% water
 Act as a refracting
medium and a volume
filler of the eye
 LENS
 Crystalline lens is a
grossly transparent,
biconvex tissue
 More curved posteriorly
(radius of curvature of
about 6mm) than
anteriorly
 Refracting surface with
a refracting power of
about 1/2 of the cornea
 LENS
 Composed of: lens
capsule, cells or lens
fibers with their nuclei at
the lens equator and
those with their nuclei
under the anterior
capsule, lens cortex,
and lens nucleus
 Held in place by zonules
of Zinn
LENS
 Lens capsule – envelopes the entire lens;
composed of thick anterior capsule & thin
posterior capsule
 Lens nucleus – innermost, central region
composed of lens fibers that are no longer
attached to the posterior capsule
 Lens cortex – composed of lens fibers that
have lost their nuclei near the equator of the
lens & their posterior processes attached to the
posterior capsule
ZONULES
 Suspensory ligament
of the lens
 Supports the lens in
position and
connects the lens to
the ciliary muscle
 Composed of fine
fibrils of modified
collagenous tissue
Thank You