Light transmission in the human cornea as a function of position across the ocular surface: theoretical and experimental aspects
Open accessAbstract
This article investigates the theoretical basis for differences in visible light transmission through the human cornea as a function of distance from the center. Experimentally, transmission decreases approximately linearly up to 3 mm from the central axis, then quadratically beyond this. It is known that collagen fibril number density and collagen fibril radii change from the central region to the corneal periphery. We modeled, using the direct-summation-of-scattered-fields method, the effects these ultrastructural changes would be expected to have on light transmission, accounting for the increase in corneal thickness from center to edge. Fibril positions for the modeling were obtained from electron micrographs of human cornea. Theoretically, transmission remains fairly constant across the central cornea; then, as the fibril diameter increases, the predicted scattering increases. Interfibrillar spacing changes alter the refractive index ratio between matrix and fibril; this was modeled in our theoretical deductions. Fibril number density had a minimal effect on light propagation. Our theoretical deductions were in broad agreement with our experimental data. It is concluded that the reduced transparency in the peripheral stroma is primarily caused by changes in fibril radius and an increase in refractive index ratio between the fibril and the interfibrillar substance.
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The decrease in transmittance outside the central 4 mm pre-pupillary cornea is attributed to the increase in fibril radius that occurs in the periphery of the cornea.
“Theoretical calculations of light transmission (Doutch et al., 2008) attributed this to the increase in fibril radius that occurs in the periphery of the cornea (Boote et al., 2003).”
From Corneal structure and transparency (2015) · cites this paper as Doutch et al., 2008
The Discussion and “Modeling transmission in the human cornea” attribute increased peripheral scattering to larger fibrils, supporting the main attribution. The paper does not establish the claimed central 4 mm boundary: the Discussion calls the prepupillary zone approximately 3 mm in diameter, while the modeling section describes it as extending about 3 mm from the optical center. Its conclusion also identifies a change in refractive-index ratio as a contributor. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Cites
X-Ray Scattering Used to Map the Preferred Collagen Orientation in the Human Cornea and Limbus
Aghamohammadzadeh, H., Newton, R. H., & Meek, K. M. (2004) · Structure · doi:10.1016/j.str.2004.01.002 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
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Research works printed but not linked: 7
- [9]9. McCally, R. L., and R. A. Farrell. 1990. Light scattering from cornea and corneal transparency. In Non-Invasive Diagnostic Techniques in Ophthalmology. B. R. Masters, editor. Springer, New York.
- [16]16. Feuk, T. 1970. On the transparency of the stroma in the mammalian cornea. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. 17:186-190.
- [17]17. Farrell, R. A., and R. L. McCally. 2000. Corneal transparency. In Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology. D. M. Albert and F. A. Jakobiec, editors. WB Saunders. Philadelphia, PA.
- [18]18. Khlebtsov, N. G., I. L. Maksimova, V. V. Tuchin, and L. Wang. 2002. Introduction to light scattering by biological objects. In Handbook of Optical Biomedical Diagnostics. V. V. Tuchin, editor. SPIE Press, Washington, DC.
- [37]37. Doutch, J., A. J. Quantock, and K. Meek. 2007. Changes in visible light transmission across the corneal stroma. Proc. SPIE 65350V.
- [38]38. Leonard, D. 1996. The Ultrastructure of the Corneal Stroma and its Implications for Transparency. Open University, Oxford, UK.
- [41]41. Meek, K. M. 2002. The Cornea. In Signals and Perception. D. Roberts, editor. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke and New York.
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Corneal structure and transparency
Meek, K. M., & Knupp, C. (2015) · Progress in Retinal and Eye Research · doi:10.1016/j.preteyeres.2015.07.001 · Cited by 853 · see citing works
Self-citationFan, X., Zheng, X., An, T., Li, X., Leung, N., Zhu, B., Sui, T., Shi, N., Fan, T., & Zhao, Q. (2023) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2219300120 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Doutch, J., Quantock, A. J., Smith, V. A., & Meek, K. M.
- Affiliations
- Cardiff University (GB)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Meek, Keith M.
- Venue
- Biophysical Journal
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-12
- Volume
- 95
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 5092-5099
- ISSN
- 0006-3495 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2586588
- OpenAlex
- W2155177190
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Biophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Corneal surgery and disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Corneal Surgery and Treatments
- Keywords
- corneal stroma, collagen fibrils, fibril diameter, refractive index ratio, corneal periphery, light scattering, corneal thickness, corneal ultrastructure
- MeSH terms
- Cornea, Humans, Models, Biological, Surface Properties, Vision, Ocular, Limbus Corneae
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