Normal ocular development in young rhesus monkeys ( Macaca mulatta)

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) Vol. 47; no. 11; pp. 1424 - 1444
• Main Authors: Qiao-Grider, Ying, Hung, Li-Fang, Kee, Chea-su, Ramamirtham, Ramkumar, Smith, Earl L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2007; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Anatomy, Comparative; Animals; Axial length; Biological and medical sciences; Biometry; Cornea - anatomy & histology; Cornea - growth & development; Crystalline lens; Emmetropization; Eye - anatomy & histology; Eye - growth & development; Eye and associated structures. Visual pathways and centers. Vision; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Hyperopia; Lens, Crystalline - anatomy & histology; Macaca mulatta - growth & development; Medical sciences; Ophthalmology; Refractive error; Refractive Errors; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Vision disorders; Axial length; Hyperopia; Emmetropization; Refractive error; Crystalline lens; Vision disorder; Monkey; Macaca mulatta; Visual system; Eye disease; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Length; Animal; Primates; Simioidea; Development; Lens
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2007.01.025

The purpose of this study was to characterize normal ocular development in infant monkeys and to establish both qualitative and quantitative relationships between human and monkey refractive development. The subjects were 214 normal rhesus monkeys. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 204 monkeys at about 3 weeks of age and longitudinal data were obtained from 10 representative animals beginning at about 3 weeks of age for a period of up to 5 years. Ocular development was characterized via refractive status, corneal power, crystalline lens parameters, and the eye’s axial dimensions, which were determined by retinoscopy, keratometry, phakometry and A-scan ultrasonography, respectively. From birth to about 5 years of age, the growth curves for refractive error and most ocular components (excluding lens thickness and equivalent lens index) followed exponential trajectories and were highly coordinated between the two eyes. However, overall ocular growth was not a simple process of increasing the scale of each ocular component in a proportional manner. Instead the rates and relative amounts of change varied within and between ocular structures. The configuration and contribution of the major ocular components in infant and adolescent monkey eyes are qualitatively and quantitatively very comparable to those in human eyes and their development proceeds in a similar manner in both species. As a consequence, in both species the adolescent eye is not simply a scaled version of the infant eye.