Visualizing Micro-anatomical Structures of the Posterior Cornea with Micro-optical Coherence Tomography

we explored the ability of cellular resolution OCT, termed micro-OCT (µOCT), to visualize microstructures of the posterior cornea using small and large animals. µOCT clearly delineated cornea layers and revealed micro-anatomical structures, including not only polygonal endothelial cells, stellate keratocytes, collagen fibres and corneal nerve fibres but also new structures such as the dome-shaped basolateral side of endothelial cells and lattice structures at the interface between endothelium and Descemet’s membrane. Based on these observations, a post-harvest longitudinal study was conducted with rat cornea to test the feasibility of µOCT to monitor endothelial cells in eye banks. This study successfully reveals a series of morphological features and pathological changes in the posterior cornea at the cellular level in situ and in real time with µOCT. These findings enrich knowledge of corneal anatomy and suggest that µOCT may be a promising imaging tool in corneal transplantation.