The adhesion behavior of the retina

Chenxi Zhang; Yunfei Lan; Hongmei Guo; Zhipeng Gao; Jie Song; Weiyi Chen

doi:10.1016/j.exer.2023.109541

The adhesion behavior of the retina

Exp Eye Res. 2023 Aug:233:109541. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2023.109541. Epub 2023 Jun 13.

Authors

Chenxi Zhang¹, Yunfei Lan¹, Hongmei Guo², Zhipeng Gao¹, Jie Song¹, Weiyi Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Biomedical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China.
² College of Biomedical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China; Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University (Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital), Taiyuan, 030032, China. Electronic address: guohongmei@tyut.edu.cn.

PMID: 37321365
DOI: 10.1016/j.exer.2023.109541

Abstract

Ocular diseases and treatment related to rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) are highly correlated with retinal adhesion behavior. Therefore, this paper proposes to study the adhesion behavior of the intact retina. This can provide theoretical guidance for the treatment and research of retinal detachment (RD) related diseases. To systematically analyze this aspect, two experiments were performed on the porcine retina. The pull-off test combined with the modified JKR theory was used to study the adhesion behavior of the vitreoretinal interface, while the peeling test was used to study the adhesion behavior of the chorioretinal interface. In addition, the adhesion phase involved in the pull-off test was simulated and analyzed by building the corresponding finite element method (FEM). The experimental results of adhesion force on the vitreoretinal interface were obtained by pull-off test with five sizes of rigid punch. The experimental value of the pull-off force F_PO tends to increase gradually with increasing punch radius in the range of 0.5-4 mm. A comparison of the experimental results with the simulation results shows that they are in a well agreement. And there is no statistical difference between the experimental and theoretical values of the pull-off force F_PO. In addition, the values of retinal adhesion work were also obtained by pull-off test. Interestingly, there is a significant scale effect of the retinal work of adhesion. Finally, the peeling test gave a maximum peeling strength T_Max of about 13 mN/mm and a stable peeling strength T_D of about 11 mN/mm between the retina and the choroid. The pull-off test well shows the process of retinal traction by the diseased vitreous at the beginning of RRD. A comparison of the experimental results with the finite element results verifies the accuracy of the simulation. The peeling test well investigated the adhesion behavior between the retina and the choroid and obtained key biomechanical data (peeling strength, etc.). The combination of the two experiments allows a more systematic study of the whole retina. This research can provide more complete material parameters for finite element modeling of retina-related diseases, and it also can provide the theoretical guidance for individualized design of retinal repair surgery.

Keywords: Adhesion behavior; FEM; Peeling test; Pull-off test; Retinal detachment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Retina / pathology
Retinal Detachment* / pathology
Retinal Detachment* / surgery
Retinal Diseases* / pathology
Swine
Tissue Adhesions
Vitrectomy / methods
Vitreous Body / pathology