Human Eye

Human eye is composed of 3 main layers;

Human Eye

External
layer

Intermediate
layer

Cornea

Iris

(in anterior)

(in anterior)

Sclera

Ciliary body

(in posterior)

(in anterior)

Choroid
(in posterior)

Internal layer
(=sensory part of the eye)

Retina (in posterior)

note: anterior part is empty)

External Layer
(cornea and sclera)

Sclera:
It is the white part of the eye sphere
(=eye ball) and its function is to
protect the eye from external
effects.
Sclera is continuous with the cornea
at the anterior portion of the eye.
It is composed of fibrous connective
tissue.

Sclera

Cornea

Fibrious connective tissue; pink color is collagen,

unstained background is ground substance irregular
dots are nuclei.

Cornea:
Cornea is the visible transparent
portion of the eye sphere that
covers both eye pupil and iris.
Cornea is the first and the most
powerful lens of the optical system
of the eye and allows, together with
the lens, the production of a sharp
image at the retina.

Formation of an image
on retina

 The diameter of the cornea is

related with the amount of the
light.
In dark conditions, the cornea
widens and in light conditions it
narrows, that is why nocturnal
(=night active) organism like owls
have a wide cornea in their eyes.

Flying Gecko

Fruit Bat

Owl

CORNEA IMPLANTATION

1-Old Cornea

2-Removal of the old Cornea

3-Eye without cornea

4-Replacement of Cornea implant

Tarsier
The tarsier of
Southeast Asia
has the largest
eyes relative to
body size of any
living creature.
The eyes are so
enormous that
they cannot be
moved in their
sockets. To
compensate,
tarsiers can
swivel their
necks 180
degrees in
either direction.
Though most nocturnal primates eat insects, the tarsier likes meat and
has the vision, speed and reflexes to catch small prey in pitch darkness

Intermediate Layer

(iris, ciliary body and choroid)

Iris:
It is a colored smooth circular
muscle, which is beautifully
pigmented, giving us the color of our
eyes.
The central aperture of the iris is
known as pupil, so that more or less
light, depending on the conditions, is
allowed to enter the eye.

Under dark conditions pupil

enlarge to allow more light
to enter the eye.
If the eye is thought to be
a camera, iris would be the
diaphragm of it.

Diaphragm

Similarities
1

opening for light to enter

aperture

control the amount of light entering

camera/eye

diaphragm control size of aperture

refract light

glass biconvex lens

pupil
iris muscles control size of pupil
mainly cornea ;
lens, aqueous & vitreous humor

object of light action to form image

photosensitive chemicals on film

photoreceptors(rods & cones) in retina

absorb excessive light to prevent

multiple images formation

dark internal surface

Pigmented dark choroid

Difference

focusing mechanism

change distance between lens & film

change focal length of lens using ciliary muscles

Iris lacks pigments in albinos. Light passes

directly through the cornea to the retina.
Albinos cannot look at the light directly
and are disturbed from light.

Albinism: About one in every 17,000 people have Albinism. These individuals fail to produce melanin,
a photoprotective pigment. While melanin's role in protecting us from ultraviolet light is understood,
it also has other important functions in the development of the retina and brain and their
interconnection of which we know much less..

Albino animals

Ciliary body (=Corpus ciliare):

It is a smooth muscle structure located
directly beneath the sclera at the anterior
of the eye, behind the iris.
Ciliary body makes connections with the lens
by some ligaments and adjusts the shape of
the lens for an excellent image formation.

Ciliary body

Choroid:
It is the portion
between the sclera
and the retina at
the posterior.
It is rich in blood
vessels and provides
the nutrition of the
eye.
It also prevents the
internal reflection
of the light due to
its brown color.

Internal Layer
(retina)

Retina:
It contains the photoreceptor cells that
capture light energy. These cells are of
two types, named because of their
shapes, rods and cones.
A schematic diagram of the
retina of the vertebrate eye.
Light (indicated here by the
yellow arrows entering from
the left) must pass through
several layers of cells to reach
the photoreceptors (the rods
and the cones) at the back of
the eye. Signals from the
photoreceptor cells (indicated
by the red arrows) are then
transmitted
through
the
bipolar cells to the ganglion
cells, whose axons converge to
become the optic nerve. Other
neurons in the retina, known as
horizontal and amacrine cells,
also
participate
in
the
elaborate transmission paths.
Some processing of information
occurs in these pathways
before nerve impulses leave
the retina.

Horizontal,
bipolar and
amacrine cells

Rods and Cones

A section through the retina of the vertebrate eye. In this scanning electron
micrograph, the rods have been colored orange and cones yellow. The other
cells in the micrograph (=shown in pink) are horizontal cells, bipolar cells, and
amacrine cells, all of which play a role in the processing of information
transmitted by the rods and the cones.

Rods are responsible for night vision, cones for color vision.
Rods do not provide a great degree of resolution as cones do,
but they are more light-sensitive than cones.
Dim light does not stimulate the cones, but stimulate the rods.
Maybe that is why we see the world colorless at night.

Day vision
Night
vision

Nocturnal animals have retinas made up almost entirely of rods

and thus have virtually no color vision.
Some diurnal (=day active) animals such as reptiles have almost
entirely cones.
Higher primates, including human, have both cones and rods.

When light is captured by photoreceptors, a series of reactions

occur that produce a change in the membrane polarity. This
change influences them to release neurotransmitters at
synapses that they form with bipolar cells. The release of
neurotransmitters at these synapses causes in turn, a change in
the membrane polarity of the bipolar cells and influences their
release of neurotransmitters at synapses with ganglion cells.
This stimulates the ganglion cells and later the impulses are
transmitted through axons of the ganglion cells to the brain for
interpretation.
There are about 125 million photoreceptors in the human
retina. Only 1 million ganglion cell axons form the optic nerve.
Therefore, each photoreceptor is not in contact one to one
with a ganglion cell. Many photoreceptors converge on a bipolar
cell, and several bipolar cells, in turn, converge on a ganglion
cell. That is why the signals from 125 million photoreceptors
are transmitted by only 1 million ganglion cells.

The area of
retina in which
the sharpest
image is formed
is known as
fovea.
In the fovea
the
photoreceptor
cells consists
entirely of
closely packed
cones. These
cones make one
to one
connection with
bipolar and
ganglion cells.

One to one connection and close

packing of the cones provide great
resolution, giving a sharp image.

 In the eye sphere3 cavities are present;

a) Anterior chamber (=between cornea and iris)
b) Posterior chamber (=between iris and lens)
c) Vitreous chamber (=entire space behind the lens)
Anterior and posterior chambers are filled with aqueous humour (=a
special fluid).Vitreous chamber is the largest cavity of the eye
sphere. It is filled with vitreous humour.
Both aqueous humour and vitreous humour are produced by ciliary
body and both are responsible to maintain the inner pressure of the
eye sphere.

Anterior Chamber

Vitreous Chamber

Posterior Chamber
Aqueous Humor fills
these cavities

Vitreous Humor fills

this cavity

Accessory Structures of the Human Eye

The protection of the eye is provided by some
structures.
These structures are
1) Orbit of the skull (=eye socket)
2) Eyelid
3) Eyelashes
4) Eyebrows
5) Conjunctiva
6)Tear apparatus
7) Muscles (=motor apparatus).

1) Orbit

: It is the cavity in the skull where eye is located.

2/3 of the eye is protected by the orbit.

2) Eyelids
: It protects the eye from harm like dust, intense
light.
3) Eyelashes : They extend from the eyelids and help the
protection.
4) Eyebrows : They are the hairs that grow at the frontal region
of the skull and protect the eye from excess sweat.
5) Conjunctiva: It is the modified epidermis of the frontal part of
the eye, covering the cornea externally and the inner
side of the eyelid.

6) Tear apparatus

: It is composed of the lacrimal gland lacrimal sac,

lacrimal duct and nasolacrimal duct. Lacrimal gland

secretes fluids every time not only during crying.
After secretion through lacrimal ducts the fluid is
released on the cornea to clean and moisten it.
Excess fluid is collected by lacrimal sac and
released into the nasal cavity through nasolacrimal
duct.

7) Muscles

: They help the organism to move his eyeballs to every

direction for a good sight. Six sets of muscles serve for

this aim. If there is a defect in their structure this results
in double vision.

Motility test to discover the disorder in muscles

How does an image form?

In the formation of a view 5 different steps are present;

I. The light rays from the object are refracted upon the entry of the eye
(=from the cornea to the iris)
II. The image is focused on the retina by the adjustment of the location or
the shape of the lens.
III.Light waves are converted
to nerve impulses by
neurochemical activity
(=in the photoreceptors)
IV. Neural activity is
processed in the retina
and the coded impulses
I
are transmitted through
III
the optic nerve.
II
IV
V. The impulses are
processed in the brain
and the information is
processed.

Refraction of the light rays

and
accommodation

known
as accommodation. Accommodation is achieved by
two methods;

Method 1: By using elastic lens

In this type of eye, the lens is elastic and it

may
change its shape (=may flatten or enlarge) by
the
help of the muscles around it.
Normally, the eye is accommodated to see far
away objects.
In this form, the lens is enlarged. The muscles
around the eye contracts and the lens flattens.
In this form, the light is not refracted too
much,
resulting in the formation of the image on the

In order to view close objects, the lens becomes

smaller.
The muscles around the lens relaxes and the lens
enlarge,
the light is refracted more this results in the formation
of the image on the retina.
Disorders in muscles create disorders in vision.
This sort of eye is present in mammals and human.

Method 2: By using rigid lens

A rigid lens cannot change its shape; instead, its

location is changed.
Normally, the eye is accommodated to see close objects.
In this form, the lens is far from the retina. In order
to view
far away objects, the lens is pulled close to the retina
by muscular activity.
This kind of eye is present in fish.

Lens shape is adjusted with the contractions of

ciliary body according to the distance of and
object. This event is known as accomodation. This
provides easy focusing.

Eye Defects

1) Myopia (=Short sightedness)

While at rest, instead of focusing on the retina, the

light rays focus in front of it. This is due to the
elongation of the eye sphere from anterior to posterior
or due to the presence of an enlarged lens than normal.
In myopia, the
individual can see closer
objects well but cannot
see the far objects
clearly.
This disorder can be
treated by wearing
glasses with concave
lenses, as well as, by
using contact lenses and
with laser surgery.

The doctors use Snellens table (=table with different

sizes of letters) to determine the eye defects.
For example; if the individual can read a letter, which
must be normally read from 6 meters, from 3 meters,
he decides that the individual has myopia. And the
degree is 3/6 = 0,5. In the reverse form;
hypermetropia.

Important Note:
Snellen chart,
illustrative only
not suitable for
vision testing

2) Hypermetropia:

While at rest, instead of focusing on the retina, the

light rays focus behind it. This is due to the elongation
of the eye sphere from superior to inferior or due to
the presence of a flattened lens than normal.
In hypermetropia, the
individual can see far
away objects well but
cannot see the closer
objects clearly.
This disorder can be
treated by wearing
glasses with convex
lenses, as well as, by
using contact lenses and
with laser surgery.

3) Astigmatism:
This describes the condition where
the image is constantly unclear due
to nonuniformity of the cornea.
This defect can be corrected by
wearing cylindrical edged glasses.

cylindrical
edged glasses.

Contact lens

Vision with
astigmatic eyes

4) Cataract:
It is the result of a loss in the transparency of the
lens of an eye. In cataract, the lens becomes opaque.
Cataract is treated by the replacement of a new lens
either from a donor or with a synthetic one.
If the opaque areas in the lens increase they may
cause loss in vision or blindness.

5) Prestism:
Due to aging, the elasticity of the lens is lost.
Normally, a young individual can see an object normally
from 10-15 cm. distance normally. As the individual
ages, this distance increases to 40-80 cm.
This disorder can be corrected by wearing glasses with
convex lenses.

6) Daltonism (=Color vision):

Color vision is provided by the
cone shaped photoreceptors in
the retina.
There are 3 kinds of cone
shaped receptors that absorb
green, red and yellow colors.
The other colors are the
combination of these two or
three colors.
If there is a disorder in the
genes that effect the
photoreceptors the person has
problems in color vision.
This disease cannot be treated
to cure it because it is the
result of genetic disorders in
the genes.

Cross section
of the retina:
A-Rods
B-Cones
C-Cell nuclei
of cone cells

Ishihara`s color
blindness test book

Ishihara Shinobu (1879-1963)

What do you see in the pictures?

Normal eye

Types of color blindness

GREAT CLALLENGE: These are some sample images to discover the

person's type of color blindness. The pictures below should look similar
to people with normal vision), but some of them will not be visible to
people with a color vision deficiency. The contrast in these tests is
much subtler than commonly seen in other similar tests.
Someone who is protanopic
might not be able to this
number .

83

37

Someone who is
tritanopic might not
be able to see this
number.

56