Analysis of X-ray scattering microstructure data for implementation in numerical simulations of ocular biomechanical behaviour

Zhou, Dong, Eliasy, Ashkan, Abass, Ahmed, Markov, Petar, Whitford, Charles, Boote, Craig ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0348-6547, Movchan, Alexander, Movchan, Natalia and Elsheikh, Ahmed 2019. Analysis of X-ray scattering microstructure data for implementation in numerical simulations of ocular biomechanical behaviour. PLoS ONE 14 (4) , -. 10.1371/journal.pone.0214770

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Abstract

This study aimed to analyse microstructure data on the density and orientation of collagen fibrils in whole eye globes and to propose an effective method for the preparation of data for use in numerical simulations of the eye’s biomechanical performance. Wide-angle X-ray scattering was applied to seven healthy ex-vivo human eyes. Each eye was dissected into an anterior and a posterior cup, and radial incisions were used to flatten the tissue before microstructure characterisation. A method was developed to use the microstructure data obtained for the dissected tissue to build realistic 3D maps of fibril density and orientation covering the whole eye globe. At the central cornea, 61.5±2.3% of fibrils were aligned within 45° sectors surrounding the two orthogonal directions. In contrast, more than one-third of the total fibril content was concentrated along the circumferential direction at the limbus (37.0±2.4%) and around the optic nerve head (34.8±2.1%). The insertion locations of the four recti muscles exhibited a preference in the meridional direction near the equator (38.6±3.9%). There was also a significant difference in fibril density between the limbus and other regions (ratio = 1.91±0.45, p <0.01 at the central cornea and ratio = 0.80±0.21, p <0.01 at the posterior pole). Characterisation of collagen fibril density and orientation across the whole ocular surface has been possible but required the use of a technique that involved tissue dissection and hence caused tissue damage. The method presented in this paper aimed to minimise the effect of dissection on the quality of obtained data and was successful in identifying fibril distribution trends that were compatible with earlier studies, which concentrated on localised areas of the ocular globe.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Optometry and Vision Sciences
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
ISSN:	1932-6203
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 April 2019
Date of Acceptance:	19 March 2019
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 20:47
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/121407

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