The sclera is rigid enough to provide a firm substrate for the intraocular contents during variations in internal pressure and eye movements. Scleral extracellular matrix (ECM) conforms to a striated pattern with a scaffold of mainly collagen, elastin and interfibrillar proteoglycans. Association between changes in the ECM structure and eye diseases and disorders such as glaucoma and myopia
has been demonstrated. For example, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and collagen contents were reduced, and scleral ECM fibril assembly becomes disorganized in the myopic sclera of humans. The present study was aimed to widen the current knowledge of scleral ECM integrity by characterizing the alterations in the mechanical response of the posterior porcine sclera caused by GAG digestion. The GAGs were digested from the scleral specimens by putting them for 18 hours at 37 ¬∞C in the digestion solution. We evaluated the success of the digestion protocol by using the Blyscan glycosaminoglycan assay. We conducted uniaxial tensile mechanical tests to assess the effect of GAG removal on scleral strips. The mechanical tests included five stress-controlled tensile cycles loaded up to a peak engineering stress of 1.0 MPa. It was observed that the enzyme treatment did not have a significant effect on the maximum strain and hysteresis.


The effects of GAGs on mechanical response of posterior sclera in tension

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