Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T19:38:20.139Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hierarchical Structure and Light Scattering in the Cornea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

R. A. Farrell ,
D. E. Freund  and
R. L. McCally
R. A. Farrell
Affiliation:
Milton S. Eisenhower Research Center The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723
D. E. Freund
Affiliation:
Milton S. Eisenhower Research Center The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723
R. L. McCally
Affiliation:
Milton S. Eisenhower Research Center The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723
Get access

Abstract

The complex hierarchical structure of the cornea of the eye as it is known from light and electron-microscopy is reviewed. Microscopy depicts the cornea as a layered structure with each layer parallel to the cornea's surfaces. The middle 90% of the cornea is a connective tissue layer called the stroma, which in turn is comprised of 2 μm thick sheets (lamellae) of collagen fibrils embedded in a ground substance. Fibrils within a given lamella have their axes parallel to one another, while fibril axes in adjacent lamellae make large angles with one another. Predictions of light scattering theory are then used to show how light scattering measurements made on fresh tissue can test these structures for possible artifacts due to preparative procedures. With unpolarized light, the total scattering cross-section depends on the fibrillar ultrastructure, but not on the lamellar structure. Angular scattering depends on both levels of hierarchical organization. The lamellar level of organization is especially significant for the propagation and scattering of polarized light. To date the structural implications of scattering measurements are in accord with structures seen in electron micrographs.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 255: Symposium Z – Hierarchically Structured Materials , 1991 , 233
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Maurice, D. M., in The Eye edited by Davson, H. (Academic Press, Orlando, 1984).Google Scholar
2. McTigue, J. W., Tr. Am. Ophth. Soc. 6, 591–660 (1967).Google Scholar
3. Farrell, R. A., McCally, R. L. and Tatham, P. E. R., J. Physiol. (Lond.) 233, 589–612 (1973).Google Scholar
4. McCally, R. L. and Farrell, R. A., Exp. Eye Res. 23, 69–81 (1976).Google Scholar
5. Freund, D. E., McCally, R. L. and Farrell, R. A., J. Opt. Soc. Am. A3, 1970–1982 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Hart, R. W. and Farrell, R. A., J. Opt. Soc. Am. A3, 766–774 (1969).Google Scholar
7. Cox, J. L., Farrell, R. A., Hart, R. W. and Langham, M. E., J. Physiol. (Lond.) 210, 601–616 (1970).Google Scholar
8. Maurice, D. M., J. Physiol. (Lond.) 136, 263–286 (1957).Google Scholar
9. Benedek, G. B., Appl. Opt. 10, 459–473 (1971).Google Scholar
10. Twersky, V., J. Opt. Soc. Am. 65, 524–530 (1975).Google Scholar
11. Feuk, T., IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. BlVIE–17, 186–190 (1970).Google Scholar
12. Farrell, R. A. and McCally, R. L., J. Opt. Soc. Am. 66 342–345 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Feuk, T., Trans. Biomed. Engr. BME–18, 92–96 (1971).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Goldman, J. N., Benedek, G. B., Dohlman, C. H. and Kravitt, B., Invest. Ophthal. 7, 501–519 (1968).Google Scholar
15. McCally, R. L. and Farrell, R. A., in Noninvasive Diagnostic Techniques in Ouhthalmology edited by Masters, B. (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1990), 189–210.Google Scholar
16. Freund, D. E., McCally, R. L. and Farrell, R. A., Appl. Opt. 25, 2739–2746 (1986).Google Scholar
17. McCally, R. L. and Farrell, R. A., Exp. Eye Res. 34, 99–111 (1982).Google Scholar
18. Andreo, R. H. and Farrell, R. A., J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72, 1479–1492 (1982)..CrossRefGoogle Scholar