Characterizing the thermally induced structural changes to intact porcine eye, part 1: second harmonic generation imaging of cornea stroma

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Abstract
We characterize the structural changes of porcine corneal structures from 25 to 90°C using second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy. Our results show that porcine stroma undergoes several distinct stages of structural changes between 25 and 90°C. A decrease in SHG intensity from 30 to 45°C and the existence of SHG intensity peaks at 53, 65, and 77°C correlate to distinct structural alterations of the corneal stroma. At higher temperatures, the SHG intensity decreases and a baseline in SHG signal is reached at 90°C. Our results demonstrate that SHG microscopy is a useful technique for obtaining qualitative and quantitative information of thermally treated corneal fibers without histological or labeling procedures. With additional developments, SHG imaging may be developed into an effective imaging technique for in vivo characterization of cornea structural changes.