Comparative morphological study of the normal human lens and the cataract by scanning electron microscopy

The human lens is an important part of the anterior segment of the eye because of its transparency and its refractive power. These special features of the lens depend on the special arrangement of its cellular elements, the lens fibres. The morphology of these fibres, their cellular integrity, the interfibrillar junction mechanisms and their spatial arrangement deteriorate with age because of complex biochemical and biophysical phenomena. All these factors cause a general disorder in the morphology of the various layers of the lens that will finally lead to the loss of the characteristic transparency and the concomitant development of a cataract.