Freeze-cleaved replicas of the anterior surface of the vitreous body in premature infants.

An electronmicroscopic structure of the anterior vitreous surface of premature human infant cadavers at the age of six, seven and eight months demonstrated with replica technique is presented. A regular hexagonal structure has been found behind the center of the lens. Towards the equator of the lens this structure is losing its regularity and may exhibit the forms of pentagons, rectangles, etc. This is probably due to the technique applied in the preparation. In one case a "mixed type" of fibrillar structure appeared, the arrangement of which does not seem to fit into the present concept of the orientation of the collagen fibrils.