Interrelation of Hydration, Collagen Cross-Linking Treatment, and Biomechanical Properties of the Cornea.

Purpose: The present study was designed to investigate the effects of hydration and collagen cross-linking treatment on biomechanical properties of the cornea.

Methods: The original corneal collagen cross-linking protocol was used to induce cross-links in bovine corneas. The thickness of samples was used as a measure of their hydration and five different thickness groups (n = 5 each) were considered. The cross-linked corneal strips were allowed to hydrate/dehydrate until their thickness reached 500, 700, 900, 1100, and 1500 μm. The tensile behavior of specimens in each thickness group was characterized by conducting uniaxial tensile experiments. The experiments were done in mineral oil in order to keep the thickness of samples constant and minimize hydration changes.

Results: It was observed that collagen cross-linking treatment significantly increased both the maximum tensile stress and the equilibrium (relaxed) stress of the bovine cornea (p < 0.01). Furthermore, with increasing the thickness (hydration) of the collagen cross-linked samples, their tensile stiffness significantly decreased (p < 0.01). An exponential relation and a logarithmic expression successfully represented experimentally measured stress-strain behavior and relaxation response of all groups (r(2 )> 0.99), respectively.

Conclusion: Hydration and collagen cross-linking treatment concomitantly affect biomechanical properties of the cornea. Therefore, an accurate estimate of stiffening effects of collagen cross-linking treatment option using uniaxial tensile experiments is only possible if the hydration of specimens is fully controlled.