ACOUSTIC-MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN EYE STRUCTURES OF JAPANESE QUAIL <i>COTURNIX JAPONICA</i>
The studies was evaluated the capabilities of scanning ultrasonic microscopes invented in Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics of RAS for studies of the structures of the eye small laboratory animals. The object of the study were chicks of Japanese quail Coturnix japonica. The range of eye size was determined by the age of birds from 10 to 30 days of age. Characteristics of ultrasonic microscopes were adequate to the sizes of the measured eyes 5-10 mm in diameter with measurement error up to 15 microns. Point-by-point scanning of the eye for plane and depth in terms of in situ provided the computer-generated 3-dimensional visualization of the general geometry of eyes, and the basic structures of the eye optics. The size and shape of the eyeball, anterior and posterior chamber of the eye, lens, corneal thickness, sclera and chorio-retinal complex were measured. These data offer the prospect of in vivo non-invasive measurements in modeling of experimental child myopia on chicks of Japanese quail.