Quantitative analysis of thermally-induced alterations of corneal stroma by second-harmonic generation imaging

Year: 2010

Authors: Matteini P., Rossi F., Ratto F., Cicchi R., Kapsokalyvas D., Pavone FS., Pini R.

Autors Affiliation: CNR, Inst Appl Phys, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy;
European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy, University of Florence, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy;

Abstract: Thermal modifications induced in the corneal stroma were investigated by means of second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging. Whole fresh cornea samples were heated in a water bath at temperatures in the 35-80 °C range for a 4-min time. SHG images of the structural modifications induced at each temperature were acquired from different areas of crosssectioned corneal stroma by using an 880 nm linearly- and circularly-polarized excitation light emitted by a mode-locked Ti:Sapphire laser. The SHG images were then analyzed by means of both an empirical approach and a 2D-theoretical model. The proposed analyses provide a detailed description of the changes occurring in the structural architecture of the cornea during the thermal treatment. Our results allow us to depict a temperature-dependent biochemical model for the progressive destructuration occurring to collagen fibrils and nonfibrillar components of the stroma.

Conference title: Photonics West – BIOS 2010
Place: San Francisco, US

KeyWords: Biochemical model; Collagen fibrils; Cornea; Corneal stroma; Destructuration; Empirical approach; Mode-locked; Polarized excitation; Quantitative analysis; Second harmonic generation; Second harmonic generation microscopy; Structural architecture; Structural modifications; Temperature dependent; Theoretical models; Thermal modification; Thermal transitions; Thermal treatment; Ti: Sapphire laser; Water baths, Biochemistry; Collagen; Harmonic analysis; Laser excitation; Mode-locked fiber lasers; Nonlinear optics, Harmonic generation
DOI: 10.1117/12.840674

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