Journal
JOURNAL OF THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS
Volume 4, Issue 4, Pages 535-540Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2010.12.011
Keywords
AFM; Nanoindentation; Sclera; Elastic modulus; Collagen fibril
Funding
- Medical Research Council (UK) [G0802583]
- Medical Research Council [G0802583] Funding Source: researchfish
- MRC [G0802583] Funding Source: UKRI
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The sclera is an important collagenous based connective tissue that gives the eye its shape and protects the sensitive layers within the globe. The elasticity and resilience of the sclera mainly come from the stroma, which contains a dense network of collagen fibrils comprising 90% of the thickness of the tissue. However, the outermost layer of the scleral tissue (similar to 10 mu m) is known as the episclera, which is mostly uncharacterised and seldom investigated. Here, we use AFM scanning of porcine eyes to show that the surfaces of these two distinctive layers are structurally different. Furthermore, we use AFM nanoindentation to show that the episclera has significantly different mechanical properties than the stroma. The mechanical properties of the stroma are shown to be distributed between its two component parts (proteoglycan matrix and collagen fibrils). (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd
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