Due to lack of the practical technique to measure the biomechanical properties of the ocular cornea in vivo, clinical ophthalmologists have some difficulties in understanding the deformation mechanism of the cornea under the action of physiological intraocular pressures. Using Young's theory analysis of the corneal deformation during applanation tonometry, the relation between the elasticity moduli of the cornea and the applanated corneal area and the measured and true intraocular pressures can be obtained. A new applanation technique has been developed for measuring the biomechanical properties of the ocular cornea tissue in vivo, which can simultaneously acquire the data of the applanation area and displacement of the corneal deformation as well as the exerted applanation force on the cornea. Experimental results on a rabbit's eyeball demonstrated that the present technique could be used to measure the elasticity moduli and creep properties of the ocular cornea nondestructively in vivo.
Objective To observe the biocompatibility of the acellular corneal stroma materials prepared by three different methods. Methods Three different serial digestion methods were used to produce the acellular corneal stroma materials. The biocompatibility of the materials was investigated by the cell seeding and the materials were implanted into the rabbit corneal stroma layer. Results The cells in the materials 1 and 2 were not decellularized completely. The rabbit corneal fibroblasts died on the materials 1 and 2 after the cell seeding for 3-4 days. An obvious rejection could be observed after the implantation. The cells in material 3 were decellularized completely and the collagen fibers or elastic fibers were reserved integrally，showing a typical three-dimensional net work. The rabbit corneal fibroblasts could expand on the materials in vitro. No obvious rejection could be observed and the materials were gradually absorbed. Conclusion The acellular porcine cornea stroma materials prepared by trypsin-Dnase-Rnase are suitable for reconstruction of the tissue engineered cornea.
Objective To evaluate the relative factors of effect of vitrectomy on corneal endothelial cells. Methods Retrospective analysis of the results of corneal endothelium microscopy performed on 213 eyes of 213 patients undergone vetrectomy operations including single vitrectomy (78 eyes), vitrectomy combined with cataract extraction (135 eyes), silicone oil injection (34 eyes), and C3F8 injection (53 eyes) before and after 1 week, 1 and 3 moths of these surgical procedures. Results There was no significant difference between pre- and postoperative corneal endothelium density in single vitrectomy group and vitrectomy combined with cataract extraction with posterior capsule integrity group (Pgt;0.05). The corneal endothelium density significantly decreased postoperatively in C3F8or silicone oil injection group with broken posterior capsule (Plt;0.05). Conclusion C3F8 and silicone oil may damnify corneal endothelium in patients undergo vitrectom y combined with cataract extraction with broken posterior capsule. (Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis，2004，20：101-103)
ObjectiveTo compare the changes of corneal astigmatism after long-term spherical and toric orthokeratology wearing, and to investigate the effects of different orthokeratology design on corneal astigmatism.MethodsThe medical records of myopic adolescent patients who have been prescribed spherical and toric orthokeratology in the contact lens clinic of West China Hospital, Sichuan University between January 2019 and December 2021 were analyzed retrospectively.The differences of corneal astigmatism changes after wearing spherical and toric orthokeratology for a long time and one month discontinuation were compared. The influencing factors of corneal astigmatism changes were analyzed. ResultsA total of 156 patients were included. There were 76 cases (76 eyes) in spherical orthokeratology group and 80 cases (80 eyes) in toric orthokeratology group. There was no significant difference between the two groups in age, gender, baseline myopia diopter and total lens wearing time (P>0.05). There were statistically significant differences between the spherical orthokeratology group and the toric orthokeratology group in the baseline corneal flat K value [42.1 (41.3, 43.3) vs. 43.1 (42.0, 44.1) D], baseline corneal steep K value [(43.4±1.3) vs. (44.6±1.5) D], baseline corneal astigmatism [(1.1±0.5) vs. (1.6±0.6) D], and baseline total eye astigmatism [−0.6 (−1.2, 0.0) vs. −1.4 (−1.8, −1.0) D] before wearing the orthokeratology (P<0.05). Compared with the baseline value, 1 month after the two groups stopped wearing the orthokeratology, the corneal flat K values became flatter [spherical orthokeratology group: 42.09 (41.28, 43.34) vs. 41.73 (40.98, 43.16) D, toric orthokeratology group: 43.09 (41.95, 44.10) vs. 42.61 (41.52, 43.56) D; P<0.05], the changes of corneal steep K values were not statistically significant (P>0.05), but the corneal astigmatism values increased [spherical orthokeratology group: (1.05±0.49) vs. (1.37±0.56) D, toric orthokeratology group: (1.62±0.57) vs. (1.99±0.63) D; P<0.05]. There was no significant difference in the changes of corneal flat K value, corneal steep K value and corneal astigmatism between the two groups (P>0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that age (P=0.011) and the total duration of orthokeratology wearing (P=0.004) were the main factors affecting the changes of corneal astigmatism. ConclusionAfter 1 month of non-wearing, the flat K value of the cornea becomes flat, the steep K value remains unchanged, and the corneal astigmatism increases. There is no difference in the effect of the spherical and toric orthokeratology on corneal astigmatism. The change of corneal astigmatism is related to the patient’s age and the total duration of wearing the orthokeratology. The younger the age, the longer the duration of orthokeratology wearing, the more significant the increase of corneal astigmatism after stopping wearing the orthokeratology.
Objective To review research progress of corneal tissueengineering.Methods The recent articles on corneal tissue engineering focus on source and selection of corneal cells, the effects of growth factors on culture of corneal cells in vitro. The preparation and selection of three-dimensional biomaterial scaffolds and their b and weak points were discussed. Results The corneal tissue engineering cells come from normal human corneal cells. The embryo corneal cell was excellent. Several kinds of growth factors play important roles in culture, growth and proliferation of corneal cell, and incroporated into matrix.Growth factors including basic fibroblast growth factor, keratinocyte growth factor, transforming growth factor β1 and epidermal growth factor was favor to corneal cell. Collagen, chitosan and glycosaninoglycans were chosen as biomaterial scaffolds. Conclusion Human tissue engineering cornea can be reconstructed and transplanted. It has good tissue compatibility and can be used as human corneal equivalents.
As the most important refraction part in the optical system, cornea possesses characteristics which are important parameters in ophthalmology clinical surgery. During the measurement of the cornea in our study, we acquired the corneal data of Orbscan Ⅱ corneal topographer in real time using the Hook technology under Windows, and then took the data into the corneal analysis software. We then further analyzed and calculated the data to obtain individual Q-value of overall corneal 360 semi-meridian. The corneal analysis software took Visual C++6.0 as development environment, used OpenGL graphics technology to draw three-dimensional individual corneal morphological map and the distribution curve of the Q-value, and achieved real-time corneal data query. It could be concluded that the analysis would further extend the function of the corneal topography system, and provide a solid foundation for the further study of automatic screening of corneal diseases.
Objective To compare the accuracy of different corneal curvature parameters used in toric intraocular lens (Toric IOL) implantation. Methods Patients who underwent phacoemulsification combined with Toric IOL implantation at the Department of Ophthalmology, the People’s Hospital of Leshan between January and June 2022 were retrospectively included. The following data of all patients were collected: age, sex, axial length, anterior chamber depth, total keratometry (TK) and simulated keratometry (Simk, described as Simk1) measured by IOL Master 700 biometric instrument, total corneal refractive power (TCRP) measured by Pentacam AXL panoramic biometric instrument, Simk measured by iTrace visual function analyzer (described as Simk2), astigmatism of the operative eye, and the optometry (including spherical, cylindrical and axial degrees) of operative eyes three months after operation. According to the different corneal curvature parameters (TK, Simk1, TCRP and Simk2) used in the preoperative degree calculation of Toric IOL, patients were divided into four correspondent groups. By analyzing the differences and consistency in postoperative spherical equivalent, variation of postoperative spherical equivalent and postoperative residual astigmatism among the four groups, the accuracy of the four parameters for Toric IOL implantation was evaluated. Results According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and after propensity score matching, a total of 47 patients (60 operated eyes) were included, with 15 eyes in each group. The spherical equivalent of the TK group, Simk1 group, TCRP group and Simk2 group after operation were (0.38±0.24), (0.49±0.15), (0.69±0.37) and (0.80±0.27) D, respectively. There was no significant difference between the Simk1 group and the TK group (P=0.52), but the differences between the TCRP group, Simk2 group and TK group were all statistically significant (P<0.01). The 95% consistency boundary width of the Simk1 group and the TK group was the narrowest (1.23). The variations of postoperative spherical equivalent of the four groups were (0.25±0.12), (0.39±0.19), (0.64±0.26) and (0.48±0.12) D, respectively. There was no significant difference between the Simk1 group and the TK group (P=0.11), but the differences between the TCRP group, Simk2 group and TK group were all statistically significant (P<0.01). The 95% consistency boundary width of the Simk2 groups and the TK group was the narrowest (0.64). The postoperative residual astigmatism of the four groups were (−0.33±0.12), (−0.57±0.11), (−0.73±0.18) and (−0.70±0.17) D, respectively. The differences between the last three groups and the TK group were statistically significant (P<0.01). The 95% consistency boundary width between the Simk1 group and the TK group was the narrowest (0.58). Conclusion It is a reliable and effective method to use TK to reflect the total corneal curvature and calculate the degree of Toric IOL.
Objective To compare the effects of the denudedfreeze-dried-amniotic-membrane and the denuded freeze-dried bovine corneal stroma when they were explanted to repair the corneal defect of rabbits. Methods The amnia from healthy human placentae were prepared with the method reported by LUO Jingcong, which were freeze-dried and sterilized. The bovine cornea was also denuded by typsin, rinsed, freeze-dried, and sterilized. Twenty Japan rabbits weredivided into group A(the amniontic group) and group B(the bovine-corneal-stroma group) at random. The defect was made, which was 7.5 mm in diameter and 1/3 ofthe thickness of the cornea, and the two kinds of materials were explanted to repair the defect. The vascularization and the changes of the operated eye were observed. The samples were taken at 2, 4 and 8 weeks for histologicalexamination. Results The explanted materials were not melted or excluded. There were visible neovessels in both groups, yet there was no significant difference between them. According to the histological observation, there was severe inflammation in both groups 2 weeks after operation, the fibroblasts were proliferated, and the collagen fibers were disorganized; however,the reactions became milder from 4 weeks after operations,andthe neovessles could be seen in groups A and B; at 8 weeks, the collagen fibers were more organized in groups A and B; however,there was still a small area of disorganized fibers left. Conclusion The two materials can lead to rejection to some extent, and so they need to be improved.
The decrease of corneal stiffness is the key factor leading to keratoconus, and the corneal collagen fiber stiffness and fiber dispersion are closely related to the corneal biomechanical properties. In this paper, a finite element model of human cornea based on corneal microstructure, namely collagen fiber, was established before and after laser assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). By simulating the Corvis ST process and comparing with the actual clinical results, the hyperelastic constitutive parameters and corneal collagen fiber stiffness modulus of the corneal material were determined before and after refractive surgery. After LASIK, the corneal collagen fiber stiffness modulus increased significantly, and was highly correlated with central corneal thickness (CCT). The predictive relationship between the corneal collagen fiber stiffness modulus and the corresponding CCT before and after surgery was: k1 before = exp(9.14 − 0.009CCTbefore), k1 after = exp(8.82 − 0.008CCTafter). According to the results of this study, the central corneal thickness of the patient can be used to estimate the preoperative and postoperative collagen fiber stiffness modulus, and then a personalized corneal model that is more consistent with the actual situation of the patient can be established, providing a theoretical reference for more accurately predicting the safe surgical cutting amount of the cornea.