Age-related loss of ciliary muscle mobility in the rhesus monkey. Role of the choroid.

Ciliary muscle topography was studied in rhesus monkey eyes (aged 6 to 29 years) bisected meridionally through cornea and optic nerve head. Half of each eye was incubated in atropine sulfate, the other in pilocarpine hydrochloride, and both were then processed for histologic study. Several ciliary muscle sections from the original cut margin and the middle of the half eyes were traced and compared quantitatively. In sections from the middle, where the attachments of the muscle were presumably intact, the pilocarpine effect on ciliary muscle topography was lost with age. In sections near the cut margin, where some of the posterior attachments were disrupted and the choroid had detached from the sclera, the pilocarpine effect persisted with age. These findings suggest that loss of ciliary muscle movement with age is caused by decreased compliance of its posterior attachment.