On the interfibrillar matrix of the pseudo-exfoliation material

Lenses with pseudo-exfoliation (PE) were suspended in a 10% solution of ferritin. In order to retain ferritin at the surface of the PE material during the preparation for the subsequent transmission electron microscopy, some of the lenses were coated with a thin layer of gelatin before the application of the ferritin solution. It was found that ferritin particles to a certain extent penetrated into the PE material. But the concentration of ferritin was much higher in the gelatin coating than in the PE material. The concentration changed stepwise at the interface between the gelatin and the PE material. The ferritin particles in the PE material were mainly found adjacent to the PE fibrils, and there was a certain tendency towards a linear arrangement of the particles. In some specimens, in which thin filaments were found in the interfibrillar space, the ferritin was found mainly along these filaments. The results are interpreted in light of earlier works in which other tracers have been applied. The marked lower concentration of ferritin in the PE material than in the gelatin coating, and the stepwise fall in concentration at the interface between the two materials, seem to confirm the presence of an interfibrillar matrix of the PE material.