Microstructural organization and macromolecular contents in fibrous tissues of normal and hypertensive eyes with diffusion tensor imaging and magnetization transfer imaging

Abstract

The sclera and cornea are fibrous connective tissues in the outer coat of the eye which may undergo microscopic structural realignment and macromolecular changes in healthy aging and in diseases such as myopia, ocular hypertension and glaucoma. Recently, we demonstrated the use of the magic-angle effect to improve MRI sensitivity to reveal T2 and T2* relaxation changes in scleral and corneal tissues upon intraocular pressure loading. In this study, we further evaluated the corneoscleral shells using high-field DTI and MTI at the magic angle in order to test the hypotheses that (1) the microstructural organization and macromolecular contents of the sclera and cornea can be detected and differentiated with high-field MRI; and (2) acute ocular hypertension may alter DTI and MTI properties in these fibrous tissues.