Corneal surface and superficial cells as viewed by scanning electron microscopy and impression cytology sampling

The aim of this research was to objectively compare sizes of corneal epithelial surface cells visualized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or collected by impression cytology (IC). Corneas of recent postmortem sheep eyes were either glutaraldehyde fixed for SEM or IC samples taken, glutaraldehyde fixed, and then stained with Giemsa. The corneal epithelial surface was examined at ×200, with the borders of all cells marked and dimensions and areas measured. For SEM, the cells were classified as having light, medium, or dark electron reflex and by the number of cell sides.