Clinical and experimental study of the basal membrane of the corneal epithelium in keratitis bullosa.

THE existence of a basal structure separating the different epithelia (glandular, cutaneous) from their stroma, is well known. The histopathology of this basal membrane has been especially well studied at the dermo-epidermic junction, where it is seen as a dense layer, intensely coloured by periodic acid-Schiff (Dupre, 1953; Lever, 1954). Percival and Hannay (1949) noted that it forms an intracutaneous barrier, preventing the diffusion of certain large particles. The authors showed that a large molecular stain injected near a subpapillary bulla diffuses easily through the derma, but does not appear in the liquid of the bulla.