We know that cells have mitochondria, chromosomes and other organelles so that's why they are opaque but can you say how the cells present in the eye cornea are transparent and allow light to pass through?
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1$\begingroup$ The pupil is a hole, there are no cells. What you probably mean are the cells of the cornea covering the pupil. $\endgroup$– skymningenFeb 9, 2017 at 14:30
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1$\begingroup$ Yes i got the wrong term it is cornea $\endgroup$– Pranab Prakash MishraFeb 9, 2017 at 14:53
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$\begingroup$ sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350946215000488 $\endgroup$– CKMMay 12, 2017 at 4:41
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$\begingroup$ practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/articles/… it's not totally clear how an entire fish can be transparent rather than white or pink, as the blood should flow in their muscles. check out the cool photo from the above page. $\endgroup$– bandybabboonOct 19, 2017 at 7:04
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$\begingroup$ sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022519399909487 $\endgroup$– bandybabboonOct 19, 2017 at 7:21
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1 Answer
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Most cells are transparent, which is why we can see cells using bright-field microscopy, where the light travels through the cells before you see it. That's how we can see inside onion cells and see structures like onion cell nucleii, moss cells, human epithelial cells and animal mast cells.
The human cornea is made up of five layers, each of which have different structures allowing them to be transparent: the outer and inner epithelial layers are very thin and naturally pretty transparent, and the middle layers have collagen fibres; based on that Wikipedia article, it sounds like there are several hypotheses for why these layers are transparent, but it doesn't look like there's a definitive answer yet.
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$\begingroup$ Actually it is made up of myelin sheath $\endgroup$ Feb 11, 2017 at 9:31
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$\begingroup$ Collagen is transparent as well --- just look at gelatin. Also, there are no blood vessels in the cornea. $\endgroup$– RolandFeb 11, 2017 at 10:56