PROJECT TITLE :

Phase-Contrast Micro-Computed Tomography Measurements of the Intraocular Pressure-Induced Deformation of the Porcine Lamina Cribrosa

ABSTRACT:

The lamina cribrosa (LC) may be a complex mesh-like tissue in the posterior eye. Its biomechanical surroundings is assumed to play a major role in glaucoma, the second commonest reason for blindness. Due to its tiny size and relative inaccessibility, high-resolution measurements of LC deformation, important in characterizing LC biomechanics, are difficult. Here we have a tendency to present a novel noninvasive imaging methodology, which allows measurement of the three-dimensional deformation of the LC caused by acute elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP). Posterior segments of porcine eyes were imaged using synchrotron radiation section distinction micro-computed tomography (PC μCT) at IOPs between six and 37 mmHg. The complicated trabecular design of the LC was reconstructed with an isotropic spatial resolution of three.2 μm. Scans acquired at totally different IOPs were analyzed with digital volume correlation (DVC) to compute full-field deformation among the LC. IOP elevation caused substantial tensile, shearing and compressive devformation at intervals the LC, with most tensile strains at 30 mmHg averaging five.5percent, and compressive strains reaching twentypercent. We tend to conclude that PC μCT provides a novel high-resolution method for imaging the LC, and when combined with DVC, allows for full-field 3D measurement of ex vivo LC biomechanics at high spatial resolution.