Superficial Epithelium of Eye
- Sclera (white of the eye)
 Lacrimal caruncle
- Mass of soft tissue
- Contains glands producing thick
secretions
- Contributes to gritty deposits that
appear after good night’s sleep
 Conjunctiva
- Epithelium covering inner surfaces of
eyelids (palpebral conjunctiva) and outer
surface of eye (ocular conjunctiva)
 Lacrimal Apparatus
- Produces, distributes, and removes
tears
 Fornix
- Pocket where palpebral conjunctiva
joins ocular conjunctiva
 Lacrimal gland (tear gland)
- Secretions contain lysozyme, an
antibacterial enzyme
 Tears
- Collect in the lacrimal lake
- Pass through: Lacrimal puncta,
Lacrimal canaliculi & Lacrimal sac
 Nasolacrimal duct
- To reach inferior meatus of nose
Flow of Tears:
-Lacrimal gland
-Lacrimal ducts
-Lacrimal canal
-Nasolacrimal duct
-Nasal Cavity
The Eye
Three Layers of the Eye
1. Outer fibrous layer
2. Intermediate vascular layer
3. Deep inner layer
Eyeball
-Is hollow
-Is divided into two cavities:
1. Large posterior cavity
2. Smaller anterior cavity
The Fibrous Layer
- Cornea
- Corneal limbus (border between
cornea and sclera)
The Vascular Layer (Uvea) Functions:
1.Provides route for blood vessels and
lymphatic that supply tissues of eye
2.Regulates amount of light entering eye
3. Secretes and reabsorbs aqueous humor
that circulates within chambers of eye
4.Controls shape of lens, which is essential to
focusing
The Vascular Layer
 Iris
- Contains papillary muscles
- Change diameter of pupil
 Ciliary Body
- Extends posteriorly to level of ora
serrata
- Serrated anterior edge of thick, inner
portion of neural tunic
- Contains ciliary processes, and ciliary
muscle that attaches to suspensory
ligaments of lens
The Inner Layer
- Outer layer called pigmented part
- Inner called neural part (retina)
§ Contains visual receptors and
associated neurons
§ Rods and cones are types of
photoreceptors
Rods
- Do not discriminate light colors
- Highly sensitive to light
Cones
- Provide color vision
- Densely clustered in fovea, at center of
macula
Inner Neural Part Photoreception
Bipolar cells - Photon strikes retinal portion of
- Neurons of rods and cones synapse rhodopsin molecule embedded in
with ganglion cells membrane of disc
Horizontal cells - Opsin is activated
- Extend across outer portion of retina - Bound retinal molecule has two
Amacrine cells possible configurations
- Comparable to horizontal cell layer - 11-cis form
Where bipolar cells synapse with
- 11-trans form
ganglion cells

Light and Dark Adaptation

Aqueous Humor
§ Dark
- Fluid circulates within eye
- Most visual pigments are fully
- Diffuses through walls of anterior
receptive to stimulation
chamber into scleral venous sinus
§ Light
(canal of Schlemm)
- Re-enters circulation
- Pupil constricts
Intraocular Pressure - Bleaching of visual pigments occurs
- Fluid pressure in aqueous humor
- Helps retain eye shape SENSES OF HEARING AND BALANCE
(EQUILIBRIUM)
The Lens
§ Lens fibers The Ear
- Cells in interior of lens § No nuclei or The External Ear
organelles § Auricle
- Filled with crystallins, which provide - Surrounds entrance to external
clarity and focusing power to lens acoustic meatus
§ Cataract - Protects opening of canal
- Condition in which lens has lost its
- Provides directional sensitivity
transparency
§ External acoustic meatus
- Ends at tympanic membrane
Light Refraction of Lens
(eardrum)
§ Image reversal
§ Tympanic membrane
Visual acuity
- Is a thin, semitransparent sheet
§Clarity of vision
§“Normal” rating is 20/2 - Separates external ear from middle
ear
§ Ceruminous glands
Visual Physiology
Color Vision - Integumentary glands along external
acoustic meatus
- Integration of information from red,
green, and blue cones - Secrete waxy material (cerumen)
Color blindness - Keeps foreign objects out of tympanic
- Inability to detect certain colors membrane
- Slows growth of microorganisms in
external acoustic meatus
 § The Middle Ear Hair cells
- Also called tympanic cavity - Basic receptors of inner ear
- Communicates with nasopharynx via - Provide information about direction
auditory tube and strength of mechanical stimuli
- Permits equalization of pressures on The Semicircular Ducts
either side of tympanic membrane - Are continuous with utricle Each duct
- Encloses and protects three auditory contains:
ossicles:  Ampulla with gelatinous cupula
1. Malleus (hammer) Associated sensory receptors
2. Incus (anvil)  Stereocilia – resemble long
3. Stapes (stirrup) microvilli Are on surface of hair cell
 Kinocilium – single large cilium
Vibration of Tympanic Membrane
- Converts arriving sound waves into The Utricle and Saccule
mechanical movements - Provide equilibrium sensations
- Auditory ossicles conduct vibrations - Are connected with the
to inner ear endolymphatic duct, which ends in
Tensor tympani muscle endolymphatic sac
- Stiffens tympanic membrane
Stapedius muscle The Utricle and Saccule
- Reduces movement of stapes at oval Maculae
window - Oval structures where hair cells
cluster
The Internal Ear Statoconia
- Contains fluid called endolymph - Densely packed calcium carbonate
- Bony labyrinth surrounds and protects crystals on surface of gelatinous mass
membranous labyrinth - Otolith (ear stone) = gelatinous matrix
- Subdivided into: and statoconia
§ Vestibule
§ Semicircular canals Pathways for Equilibrium Sensations
§ Cochlea Vestibular receptors
- Activate sensory neurons of vestibular
Stimuli and Location: ganglia
§ Sense of gravity and acceleration - Axons form vestibular branch of
- From hair cells in vestibule vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII)
§ Sense of rotation - Synapse within vestibular nuclei
- From semicircular canals
§ Sense of sound Four Functions of Vestibular Nuclei
- From cochlea 1. Integrate sensory information about
balance and equilibrium from both sides of
Equilibrium head
- Sensations provided by receptors of 2. Relay information from vestibular complex
vestibular complex to cerebellum
3. Relay information from vestibular complex
to cerebral cortex
- Provide conscious sense of head position
and movement
4. Send commands to motor nuclei in brain
stem and spinal cord
Eye, Head, and Neck Movements
§ Reflexive motor commands
- From vestibular nuclei
- Distributed to motor nuclei for cranial
nerves
§ Peripheral Muscle Tone, Head, and Neck
Movements
- Instructions descend in
vestibulospinal tracts of spinal cord
 Physicists use term cycles instead of
waves
- Hertz (Hz) number of cycles per
second (cps)
 Pitch - our sensory response to frequency
 Amplitude - Intensity of sound wave
 Sound energy is reported in
decibels
Effects of Aging on the Ear
 With age, damage accumulates
- Tympanic membrane gets less flexible
- Articulations between ossicles stiffen
- Round window may begin to ossify

Hearing
§ Auditory ossicles
- Convert pressure fluctuation in air
into much greater pressure
fluctuations in perilymph of cochlea
§ Frequency of sound
- Determined by which part of cochlear
duct is stimulated
§ Intensity (volume)
- Determined by number of hair cells
stimulated

An Introduction to Sound:
Pressure Waves
- Consist of regions where air
molecules are crowded together
- Adjacent zone where molecules are
farther apart
Sine waves
- S-shaped curves

Pressure Wave
 Wavelength - distance between two
adjacent wave troughs
 Frequency - number of waves that pass
fixed reference point at given time