High myopia induced by form deprivation is associated with altered corneal biomechanical properties in chicks

PLoS One. 2018 Nov 12;13(11):e0207189. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207189. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The cornea is a soft, transparent, composite organic tissue, which forms the anterior outer coat of the eyeball. Although high myopia is increasing in prevalence worldwide and is known to alter the structure and biomechanical properties of the sclera, remarkably little is known about its impact on the biomechanics of the cornea. We developed and validated a novel optical-coherence-tomography-indentation probe-to measure corneal biomechanical properties in situ, in chicks having experimentally-induced high myopia, while maintaining intraocular pressure at levels covering the physiological range. We found that the cornea of highly myopic chicks was more steeply curved and softer, at all tested intraocular pressures, than that in contralateral, non-myopic eyes, or in age-matched normal, untreated eyes. These results indicate that the biomechanical properties of the cornea are altered in chicks developing experimentally-induced myopia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Chickens
  • Cornea / diagnostic imaging*
  • Cornea / physiopathology*
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Intraocular Pressure
  • Myopia / diagnostic imaging*
  • Myopia / physiopathology*
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence / instrumentation
  • Ultrasonography

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the University Grants Committee General Research Grant 151011/14M, (https://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/ugc/index.html); The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Internal Grant 151056/16M (https://www.polyu.edu.hk/ro/en/index.html) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Strategic importance fund 1-ZE1A (https://www.polyu.edu.hk/ro/en/index.html). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.