Nucleus and cell size changes in human bulbar conjunctival cells after soft contact lens wear, as assessed by impression cytology.
PURPOSE: To specifically assess the nucleus size and its relationship to cell size for human bulbar conjunctival cells. METHODS: Impression cytology samples were taken from the nasal side of the intra-palpebral zone of the bulbar conjunctival surface from 20 young adult white European males, half of whom were successful daily soft contact lens wearers. A Millcell-CM filter was used, after topical anaesthesia with oxybuprocaine 0.4%, which was stained with Giemsa and colour images taken at 400x magnification by light microscopy. The images were graded and also a 35mm was prepared. From the projected image, an overlay method was used to outline the borders such that the cell and nucleus areas could be measured by planimetry. RESULTS: The group mean cell area values were 267+/-59microm(2) (n=10, +/-S.D.) and 1028+/-357microm(2) for the non-contact lens wearers and contact lens wearers, respectively. The cell nucleus areas were 64+/-11microm(2) and 99+/-19microm(2), respectively. Both the cell areas and nucleus area values were statistically different between the two groups (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These studies confirm that soft contact lens wear can result in cell enlargement (squamous metaplasia) of the bulbar conjunctival cells. With this cell enlargement, the nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio also changes, but the nucleus size generally increases (rather than decreases).[1]References
- Nucleus and cell size changes in human bulbar conjunctival cells after soft contact lens wear, as assessed by impression cytology. Doughty, M.J., Naase, T. Cont. Lens. Anterior. Eye (2008) [Pubmed]
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