Experimental study on the corneal endothelium of traumatic cataract.

The cell morphology of corneal endothelium in 84 mice with experimental traumatic cataract was investigated with stained corneal buttons. In the experimental group, the boundaries between adjacent corneal endothelial cells were significantly distorted, some cell boundaries manifested degenerative changes that led to coalescence of the cells. The mean density and mean area of endothelial cells of the controls showed significant difference from those of the experimental group during the 12 weeks of observation. The density of endothelial cells decreased from 3,312 +/- 337/mm2 of the control group to 2,944 +/- 418/mm2 in the group of partially opaque lenses and 2,713 +/- 472/mm2 in the group of totally opaque lenses. Meanwhile, the area of endothelial cells and the coefficient of variation also significantly changed correspondingly, and the degree of damage in the corneal endothelium correlated with the degree of the lens opacity.