Human Aqueous Humor Biospecimens

Aqueous Humor Anatomy

Regarding eye anatomy, aqueous humor is found in the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye.

The anterior chamber is located between the cornea (the front layer of the eye) and the iris (the colored part of the eye). The posterior chamber lies between the iris and the front of the lens.

Aqueous humor consists almost entirely of water — 99.9% to be exact. The remaining 0.01% is made up of nutrients such as sugars, proteins and vitamins.

Aqueous Humor Function

Several eye structures that are located in the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye don’t have a blood supply. Instead, they rely on aqueous humor for nourishment.

Aqueous fluid also removes waste from the eye with its constant flow through the anterior and posterior chambers.

While providing nourishment and removing waste, aqueous humor is also responsible for maintaining proper, balanced pressure within the eye. This may seem like a simple task, but it’s incredibly important for eye health.

Imbalances in the creation and drainage of aqueous humor can lead to high intraocular pressure, also called IOP or eye pressure. High eye pressure is a main factor of glaucoma, a potentially sight-threatening condition.

Aqueous Humor Flow

The flow of aqueous humor begins in its production by the ciliary body, in the posterior chamber of the eye. From the ciliary body, aqueous humor flows through the pupil and into the anterior chamber.

Aqueous humor then leaves the anterior chamber through a structure called the drainage angle. Once inside the drainage angle, the aqueous fluid leaves the eye through a spongy tissue called the trabecular meshwork.

The trabecular meshwork moves the liquid into a drainage canal, called Schlemm’s canal, where the aqueous humor then drains into the eye’s circulatory system.

Aqueous Humor and Glaucoma

Imbalances in the amount of aqueous produced and aqueous drained can lead to ocular hypertesion, or high eye pressure. This can occur because of an overproduction of aqueous humor or an insufficient drainage of it.

As mentioned earlier, aqueous humor leaves the eye through the drainage angle. It’s possible for the drainage angle to be “open” or “closed,” meaning the passageway is narrow. The narrower the drainage angle becomes, the more difficult it is for the aqueous humor to drain.

When the drainage canal narrows to the point where aqueous can’t drain effectively, it results in narrow-angle glaucoma : High eye pressure caused by a closed drainage angle. This type of glaucoma is rare and may occur gradually or suddenly (called acute angle closure).

It’s also possible to experience poor aqueous drainage even when the drainage angle is wide open.

This is known as open-angle glaucoma and is caused by a blockage in the drainage canals, like the trabecular meshwork or Schlemm’s canal, rather than the drainage angle. Open-angle glaucoma typically develops slowly and is the most common type of glaucoma, representing at least 90% of cases.

Both types of glaucoma, if left untreated, can damage vision and eventually cause blindness.

When to See An Eye Doctor

Many times, when glaucoma development is gradual, a person may experience few to no symptoms. This is especially dangerous because people with glaucoma won’t know something is wrong until their vision is affected.

While treatment is available for both open and narrow-angle glaucoma, the damage done to vision before treatment is administered cannot be reversed. Having regular eye exams can keep you and your eye doctor mindful of your eye health, lessening your chances of glaucoma-related vision loss.

During a comprehensive eye exam, the eye doctor will check your eye pressure. If you appear to be a glaucoma suspect, meaning you don’t have glaucoma, but have higher than normal eye pressure,  they may recommend preventive measures to lower your risk.

Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Samples available include cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

Also, all our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

So this critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Additionally, patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples, including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, human tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

• Peripheral whole-blood
• Amniotic fluid
• Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
• Sputum
• Pleural effusion
• Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
• Serum (sera)
• Plasma
• Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC)
• Saliva
• Buffy coat
• Urine
• Stool samples
• Aqueous humor
• Vitreous humor
• Kidney stones (renal calculi)
• Other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.

Moreover, we can also procure most human bio-specimens, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, and PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

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