The dry eye in senile people is a major ophthalmologic problem; the aim of this work was to study the his-tological and histochemical changes with advancement of age in the lacri-mal glands in rabbits, and correlating these changes with those, which might be detected at the ultra structu­ral level.
Thirty healthy rabbits of both sex­es were divided into three groups. Young age group (3-5 months), adult group (9-12 months), and senile group (24-36months). The lacrimal glands, of each animal, were dissect­ed out, isolated and processed; par-
affin section stained with Hx&E.,Mal!ory Trichrome and PAS stains. Fresh frozen cryocut section for localization of acid phosphatase enzyme activity were done. Epon em­bedded semithin sections stained with toluidine blue and ultra thin sec­tions for Electone Microscopic study were prepared.
The rabbits has a dorsal lacrimal gland in the postero dorsal region of the eye ball, it is about 4mm in diame­ter, and Harderian gland lies in the antero ventral region of the eye ball, it is about 6mm in diameter. In young and adult age consists of tubulo aci-nar units separated by dense sheets