Experimental Surface Strain Mapping of Porcine Peripapillary Sclera Due to Elevations of Intraocular Pressure

To experimentally characterize 2D surface mapping of the deformation pattern of porcine peripapillary sclera following acute elevations of intraocular pressure (IOP) from 5 mm Hg to 45 mm Hg. Four porcine eyes were obtained within 48 h postmortem and dissected to the sclera. After the anterior chamber was removed, each posterior scleral shell was individually mounted at the equator on a custom-built pressurization device, which internally pressurized the scleral samples with isotonic saline at 22°C. Black polystyrene microspheres (10 μm in diameter) were randomly scattered and attached to the scleral surface. IOP was incrementally increased from 5 mm Hg to 45 mm Hg (±0.15 mm Hg), and the surface deformation of the peripapillary sclera immediately adjacent to the dural insertion was optically tracked at a resolution of 2 μm/ pixel one quadrant at a time, for each of four quadrants (superior, nasal, inferior, and temporal). The 2D displacement data of the microsphere markers were extracted using the optical flow equation, smoothed by weighting function interpolation, and converted to the corresponding Lagrangian finite surface strain. In all four quadrants of each eye, the principal strain was highest and primarily circumferential immediately adjacent to the scleral canal. Average maximum Lagrangian strain across all quadrants for all eyes was 0.013 ±0.005 from 5 mm Hg to 10 mm Hg, 0.014 ±0.004 from 10 mm Hg to 30 mm Hg and 0.004±0.001 from 30 mmHg to 45 mm Hg, demonstrating the nonlinearity in the lOP-strain relationship. For each scleral shell, the observed surface strain mapping implied that the scleral stiffness was relatively low between 5 mm Hg and 10 mm Hg, but dramatically increased for each IOP elevation increment beyond 10 mm Hg. Peripapillary deformation following an acute IOP elevation may be governed by the underlying scleral collagen microstructure and is likely in the high-stiffness region of the scleral stress-strain curve when IOP is above 10 mm Hg.