COWEYEDISSECTION

PhysiologyPeriod2
Ms.Graham
WestminsterHighSchool
HBUHSD
By
KelleyTruong
November4
,2014
th

Research
Vision

AccordingtoDavidHubelsEye,Brain,andVision,hestateshowtheeyeislike

acamera.Heexplainshowtheeyeistakingthelightthatfallsonthetworetinasand
translatingitintoameaningfulvisualsceneisoftencuriouslyignored,asthoughallwe
neededinordertoseewasanimageoftheexternalworldperfectlyfocusedonthe
retina.(Hubel,D.)Alternatively,Hubelissayingthattheretinaplaysaveryimportant
rolewhenitcomestovisionandtheeye.Theretinaistheoutermostlayeroftheeyethat
ismadeupofathin,outerlayercalledthepigmentedpart,andathick,innerlayercalled
theneutralpart.(Bartholomew,Martini,Nath,2012,p.575)Thepigmentedpartofthe
retinainteractswiththeretinaslightreceptors.Theneutralpartoftheretinacontains
photoreceptors,whicharecellsthatdetectlight.
Structures

Theinternalstructuresoftheeyearecomposedoftheaqueoushumor,vitreous

humor,lens,ciliarybody,choroid,retina,andtheopticnerve.Intheeye,thevitreous
humoritthejellylikesubstancethatformsthecircularshapeoftheeye.Notonlydoesit
formtheshape,butalsoitrefractsthelightontotheretina.Whereastheaqueoushumor,
theclearandwaterylikesubstancethatisbetweenthelensandthecornea,refractslight
ontothepupil.AccordingtoEricWise,theaqueoushumorisproducedbytheciliary
body.(Wise,E.)Focusinglightontotheretinawouldbethejobofthelens.The
choroid"iscomposedoflayersofbloodvesselsthatnourishthebackoftheeye.The

choroidconnectswiththeciliarybodytowardthefrontoftheeyeandisattachedtoedges
oftheopticnerveatthebackoftheeye"(St.Luke'sCataract&LaserInstitute,2012).
Themusclethatconnectstoyoureyeandbrainandsendsnerveimpulsesfromthe
photoreceptorswouldbethejoboftheopticnerve.
Theexternalstructuresoftheeyeincludethevisiblestuff,eyelids,eyelashes,
sclera,andpupil.Thejoboftheeyelidistohelpguardthecorneawithitsfoldofskin.
Youreyelashesarejusttheshortlittlehairsontheeyethatshieldsawayforeign
substanceslikedust.Alsoknownasthewhiteoftheeye,thescleraprotectsyour
internaleyestructures.Thepupilisjustanopeninginthecenteroftheiristhatallows
lighttoenterintotheeye.Squinting,
shieldstheeyefromexcessivelight,whichmay
damagelightsensitiveinternalstructuressuchastheretina.Blinkingspreadstears
acrossandremovesirritants(e.g.dustparticles)thecorneaandconjunctiva.(Tangient
LLC,2014)

Light
Intheeye,therearetwotypesofphotoreceptorsthatareintheretina.Theyareto
be,rodsandcones.Rodsaresensitiveenoughtorespondtoasinglephoton,thebasic
unitoflight,buttogethertheycreateonlyonecoarse,grayimage,whichisjustadequate
forseeingpoorlight.(INNERBODY.COM,2014)AccordingtoINNERBODY.COM,
colorandfineimagescomesfromthecones.Conesaretheonesthatneedmorelightand
theyalsoworkbetterinbroaddaylight.
Muscles

AccordingtoAAPOS,themusclethatmovestheeyeupward,whichattachesto
thetopoftheeye,wouldbethesuperiorrectusandthemusclethatmovestheeye
downward,whichattachestothebottomoftheeye,wouldbetheinferiorrectus.The
medialrectusisthemusclethatisattachedtothesideoftheeyenearthenoseandallows
youtomoveyoureyetowardsyournose.Thelateralrectusisalsoattachedtothesideof
theeye,nearthetempleandallowsyoutomoveyoureyeoutward.
HumanEyevs.CowEye
Thehumaneyeandthecoweyearesimilarinmanyways.Theybothhavea
sclera,retina,cornea,vitreoushumor,andchoroid.Itsfunctionsarethesameinahuman
eyeandacoweye.Inspiteofthesimilarities,theonlythingthatwouldbedifferentis
thatforacowseye,theirvisionisdifferentfromtheircolorreceptionandours.
Cows
canseecolor,butthedistributionofrodandconecellsinthecow'sretinadoesnot
perceivecolorsthesamewayhumansdo.(DemandMediaInc.,2014)Theretinaintheir
eyescandiscernbetweencolorsjustnotinanadvancewayashumanscan.Acoweye
hasatapetumlucidumthatwehumansdonot.AccordingtoDemandMediaInc.,
tapetumlucidum
increasesthecow'snightvisionability.Itsreflectivepropertiesallowa
cowtoseeatnightbyreflectingthelightthatisabsorbedthroughtheretinabackintothe
retina.(sHaH,2014)Itisalsoaccountablefortheglowingoftheireye.
Problem:
Howwouldyoubeabletoidentifythestructuresandthefunctionsofthecow
eye?
Hypothesis:
IfIdissectthecoweye,thenIwouldbeabletoidentifythestructuresand
learnabouttheirfunctions.

Materials:
coweye,tray,papertowels,gloves,goggles,

scalpel,tweezers,andscissors
Procedure:
Step1:Usethescalpelorthetweezerstocutoffalltheextrafatthatisenclosedaround
thecoweye.Bydoingso,youwillbeabletoexposethemuscles,whichincludes,the
superiorrectus,inferiorrectus,medialrectus,andlateralrectusandalso,theopticnerve.
Whenfinished,hosefourmusclesandshouldbehangingfromtheeye.Also,besurenot
tocutthroughanynervesand/ormuscles.
Step2:Afterthemuscleshavebeenexposed,usethescalpel
(BEVERYCAREFUL!)
tomakeasmallincisioninthetopoftheeyeandgoallaroundusingthescissors,cutting
alongtheeye.Therefore,youllbeleftwithtwohalves.
Step3:Analyzetheposteriorhalf.Usethetweezerstoremovethevitreoushumorto
exposetheretina.Afterexposingtheretina,carefullyremoveittouncoverthetapetum.
Step4:Analyzetheotherhalfoftheeye,theanteriorhalf.Here,youwillhavethelens
andmorevitreoushumor.Thiswouldberemovedaswell.
Step5:Afterremovingthelensandanyexcessvitreoushumor,youwouldhaveexposed
theirisandthecornea.
Data:


(Leyba,2014)

Conclusion:
Byperformingthisdissection,thecowseyestructuresaremoreevident.Seeing
thatthefactthatthecowseyeismoreonthesideontheirhead,theyalterinmanyways,
fromtherangeoftheireye,vision,andmuscles.Consideringthefactthatthecowseye
ismoretowardsthesideoftheirhead,thesuperiorrectus,inferiorrectus,medialrectus
andlateralrectusmusclesaregoingtobefarmorelargerthantheexternalmusclesofthe
humaneye.Anothermaindifferencebetweenthetwoeyewouldbethefactthatthecow
eyehadatapetumlucidum,astructureintheeyethathelpsanimalsseemorebetterinthe
dark.Overall,theretinaplaysaveryimportantrolewhenitcomestolightandthe
adaptationandtakinginofit.Itdoesitjobsforboththecowandhumaneye,allowingus

seeandmakeimagesofthings.Butforthecowseye,thelightreflectsintotheretinaand
hitsthetapetumlucidum,thereforemakingthemcapableofseeinginthedark.

Bibliography

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Eye'sRodsandCones.(2014,January1).RetrievedNovember5,2014.
http://www.innerbody.com/image/nerv07.html#fulldescription

Marieb,E.,&Hoehn,K.(2007).Theendocrinesystem.In
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Physiology
(7thed.,pp.560565).SanFrancisco:BenjaminCummings.

SHaH,R.(2014,June3).CowEyeDissection.RetrievedNovember5,2014.

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/a/eyedissectionproject

Wise,E.,(2004).Eyeandvision
Anatomyandphysiologyunityofformandfunction,
chapter26
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