Transverse depth-dependent changes in corneal collagen lamellar orientation and distribution

Abass, Ahmed, Hayes, Sally ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8550-0108, White, Nick, Sorensen, Thomas and Meek, Keith M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9948-7538 2015. Transverse depth-dependent changes in corneal collagen lamellar orientation and distribution. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 12 (104) , 20140717. 10.1098/rsif.2014.0717

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Abstract

It is thought that corneal surface topography may be stabilized by the angular orientation of out-of plane lamellae that insert into the anterior limiting membrane. In this study, micro-focus X-ray scattering data were used to obtain quantitative information about lamellar inclination (with respect to the corneal surface) and the X-ray scatter intensity throughout the depth of the cornea from the centre to the temporal limbus. The average collagen inclination remained predominantly parallel to the tissue surface at all depths. However, in the central cornea, the spread of inclination angles was greatest in the anterior-most stroma (reflecting the increased lamellar interweaving in this region), and decreased with tissue depth; in the peripheral cornea inclination angles showed less variation throughout the tissue thickness. Inclination angles in the deeper stroma were generally higher in the peripheral cornea, suggesting the presence of more interweaving in the posterior stroma away from the central cornea. An increase in collagen X-ray scatter was identified in a region extending from the sclera anteriorly until about 2 mm from the corneal centre. This could arise from the presence of larger diameter fibrils, probably of scleral origin, which are known to exist in this region. Incorporation of this quantitative information into finite-element models will further improve the accuracy with which they can predict the biomechanical response of the cornea to pathology and refractive procedures.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Optometry and Vision Sciences
Subjects:	R Medicine > RE Ophthalmology
Additional Information:	Copyright 2015 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
Publisher:	Royal Society, The
ISSN:	1742-5662
Funders:	MRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	5 January 2015
Last Modified:	14 Apr 2024 15:16
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/71487

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