A Novel Artificial Vitreous Substitute – Foldable Capsular Vitreous Body

The natural vitreous is a transparent, gelatinoid structure occupying four-fifths of the volume of the eye. It has a thin, membrane-like structure corresponding to the vitreous cortex that extends from the ora serrata to the posterior pole.1 It is somewhat spherical but slightly flattened meridionally, and it has a cup-shaped depression in its anterior side. It consists of about 99% water by weight, collagen fibers (types II, V/XI, VI, and IX), hyaluronic acid, opticin, fibrillin, and hyaluronan, which can maintain a certain spatial relationship with dipolar water molecules.1,2 However, very few cells are found in the vitreous body. These cells are mostly phagocytes that clear useless cellular debris and hyalocytes mainly found at the periphery and that produce hyaluronic acid and collagen. In human adults, the vitreous body has an approximate weight of 4 g, a density of 1.0053– 1.0089g cm-3, a refractive index of 1.3345–1.3348, and a PH range of 7.0–7.4. 3-5