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Figure 1 | BioMedical Engineering OnLine

Figure 1

From: Development of a 3D finite element model of lens microcirculation

Figure 1

Lens microcirculation system. A: Schematic diagram of an axial view of the lens showing a single layer of anterior epithelial monolayer (EC), that at the equator (EQ) divide to produce the elongating differentiating fibre cells (DF), that eventually lose their nuclei and cellular organelles to become mature fibre cells in the lens nucleus (MF). Fiber cells from adjacent hemispheres meet at the anterior (AP) and posterior (PP) poles to form the sutures. Arrows in the diagram represent the direction of ion and water fluxes. These fluxes have been directly measured outside the lens [5, 6] but their position and direction inside the lens are to date purely theoretical [3]. B: An equatorial cross section of the lens showing a cellular view of ion and water movement in the lens [7]. Current and solutes are proposed to flow into the lens via the extracellular space, to cross fibre cell membranes, and to flow outward via an intracellular pathway mediated by gap junction channels.

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