Anat Histol Embryol. 2019;00:1–6. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ahe | 1 © 2019 Blackwell Verlag GmbH 1 | INTRODUCTION Anatomically, tunica conjunctiva palpebrarum was relatively richer in terms of vessels than tunica conjunctiva bulbi (Dursun, 2014; König & Liebich, 2014). The tunica conjunctiva palpebrarum of Wistar rats have prolif‐ erative epithelium. This means that the epithelial stem cells in the conjunctiva are located essentially in the palpebral epithelium in Wistar rats. This explanation gave rise to a new perspective on the ocular epithelial development. It was also important in conjunctival injury repair (Chen, Ishikawa, Yamaki, & Sakuragi, 2003). The deep lymphatic system drained the conjunctiva was still undefined. The lymphatic system is an important component of the circulation, and it played a critical role in the regulation of the body fluid and in macromolecular homoeostasis, lipid absorption, immune func‐ tion and metastasis (Schmid‐Schonbein, 1990; Steenbergen, Lash, & Bohlen, 1994). There was no clear view of lymphatic transport in different organs yet. It had been observed that the lymphatic drain‐ age increased after subconjunctival drug administration in both tu‐ mour and inflammation cases (Robinson et al., 2006; Sugar, Riazi, & Schaffner, 1957). Aqueous humour used conjunctival lymph vessels to drain into lymph nodes (Camelo, Kezic, Shanley, Rigby, & McMenamin, 2006; Camelo et al., 2008; Nur, Saçmacı, Ertürk, & Orhan, 2018). The im‐ mune system in the lymph node is very important for the defence of the eye (Raviola, 1983). Lymphatic vessels are drained into the parotid lymph node. As it has been reported in studies conducted with fluorescent agents, the lymph liquid, which reaches a parotid lymph node first, was then drained into the retropharyngeal lymph nodes (Freeman & Troutt, 1985). In addition, the lymphatic vessels of the upper and lower eyelids opened to the parotid lymph node (Shoukath et al., 2017). Received: 13 June 2019 | Revised: 13 September 2019 | Accepted: 30 September 2019 DOI: 10.1111/ahe.12508 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Application of quantum dot‐based biosensor to the conjunctiva in Wistar albino rats İsmail Hakkı Nur 1 | Şerife Saçmaci 2 | Hacı Keleş 1 | Mohamed Abumandour 3 | Haluk Testereci 4 1 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey 2 Department of Chemistry, Science Faculty, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey 3 Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt 4 Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey Correspondence İsmail Hakkı Nur, Anatomy Department, Veterinary Faculty, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey. Emails: hn63@erciyes.edu.tr; hnur_55@ hotmail.com Funding information The Unit of Scientific Research Projects of Erciyes University, Grant/Award Number: THD‐2017‐7769 and TOA‐2017‐7362 Abstract This study was conducted to get an idea about the distribution of the lymphatic fluid in conjunctiva throughout the body parts. For this purpose, Qdot655 (QD), fluores‐ cence nanoparticles, spread onto the conjunctiva were used on Wistar albino rats. Drainage of QD particles from conjunctiva was followed up via fluorescence images at different hours on body parts such as eye, ears, forearms, hind legs and tails. The first fluorescence signals within the 30th minutes following administration of QD were observed in the nasal region and the anterior extremities. Whereas within 60th minutes following QD spread, fluorescent signals were obtained from the ears, fore‐ arms, hind legs and tail of the female and male rats. KEYWORDS biosensor, conjunctiva, eyelid lymphatics, in vivo imaging, quantum dot, rat