Open AccessChanges of Corneal Optical Properties after UVB Irradiation Investigated Spectrophotometrically
Author(s) -
Čestmír Čejka,
Jan Plátenı́k,
Jakub Širc,
Taras Ardan,
Jiřı́ Michálek,
B Brůnová,
Jitka Čejková
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
physiological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.647
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1802-9973
pISSN - 0862-8408
DOI - 10.33549/physiolres.931867
Subject(s) - cornea , irradiation , absorption (acoustics) , chemistry , biophysics , ophthalmology , optics , biology , medicine , physics , nuclear physics
Ozone depletion leads to an increase in UV rays of solar radiationreaching the surface of the Earth which is harmful to biologicalsystems. Of the eye, the cornea is directly open to increasedamount of UV rays of which mainly UVB rays are capable toinduce reactive oxygen species damaging the cells. Previousstudies showed that the irradiation of the cornea with UVB raysleads to morphological as well as metabolic disturbances of thecornea. Also, corneal hydration and corneal light absorption areincreased after UVB rays. These changes were observed afterfive days of repeated irradiation of the cornea with UVB rays. Theaim of the present paper was to examine how early the changesof corneal hydration and light absorption occur after UVBirradiation. The rabbit corneas were irradiated with UVB rays forone, two, three or four days. Corneal light absorption wasexamined spectrophotometrically and corneal hydrationmeasured by pachymeter (as corneal thickness). Results showthat changes of corneal hydration and light absorption appearearly after UVB irradiation and increase along with the number ofirradiations. In conclusion, irradiation of the rabbit cornea withUVB rays leads to harmful changes of its optical properties.