Lens diameter and thickness as a function of age and pharmacologically stimulated accommodation in rhesus monkeys

Uncertainty exists regarding accommodative and age changes in lens diameter and thickness in humans and monkeys. In this study, unaccommodated and accommodated refraction, lens diameter, and lens thickness were measured in rhesus monkeys across a range of ages. Iridectomized eyes were studied in 33 anesthetized monkeys aged 4–23 years. Refraction was measured using a Hartinger coincidence refractometer and lens thickness was measured with A-scan ultrasound. Lens diameters were measured with image analysis from slit-lamp images captured via a video camera while a saline filled, plano perfusion lens was placed on the cornea. Accommodation was pharmacologically stimulated with 2% pilocarpine via the perfusion lens in 21 of the monkeys and lens diameters were measured until a stable minimum was achieved. Refraction and lens thickness were measured again after the eye was accommodated. Unaccommodated lens thickness increased linearly with age by 0.029 mm/year while unaccommodated lens diameter showed no systematic change with age. Accommodative amplitude decreased by 0.462 D/year in response to pilocarpine. The accommodative increase in lens thickness decreased with age by 0.022 mm/year. The accommodative decrease in lens diameter declined linearly with age by 0.021 mm/year. Rhesus monkeys undergo the expected presbyopic changes including increasing lens thickness and a decreasing ability of the lens to undergo changes in thickness and diameter with accommodation, however without an age-related change in unaccommodated lens diameter. As in humans, the age-related decrease in accommodative amplitude in rhesus monkeys cannot be attributed to an age-related increase in lens diameter.