M & G Express

Editor-in-Chief: Michael Duncan Vol. 13, Iss. 15 July 2005 pp: 5791-5797 Second harmonic generation imaging of collagen fibrils in cornea and sclera Meng Han, Gí¼nter Giese, and Josef Bille Optics Express, Vol. 13, Issue 15, pp. 5791-5797 Keywords (OCIS): (140.7090) Lasers and laser optics : Ultrafast lasers (170.4460) Medical optics and biotechnology : Ophthalmic optics and devices (170.4470) Medical optics and biotechnology : Ophthalmology (180.5810) Microscopy : Scanning microscopy (190.1900) Nonlinear optics : Diagnostic applications of nonlinear optics Abstract Collagen, as the most abundant protein in the human body, determines the unique physiological and optical properties of the connective tissues including cornea and sclera. The ultrastructure of collagen, which conventionally can only be resolved by electron microscopy, now can be probed by optical second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging. SHG imaging revealed that corneal collagen fibrils are regularly packed as a polycrystalline lattice, accounting for the transparency of cornea. In contrast, scleral fibrils possess inhomogeneous, tubelike structures with thin hard shells, maintaining the high stiffness and elasticity of the sclera. © 2005 Optical Society of America (504 KB) History Original Manuscript: May 25, 2005 Revised Manuscript: July 8, 2005 Published: July 25, 2005 Citation M. Han, ...