Development of opticaly-cleared tissues for novel ophthalmic treatments

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24700472
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biomedical engineering/Biological material science
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: TANAKA Yuji 東北大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (40625513)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: バイオマテリアル / 透明化 / 羊膜 / コラーゲン / 眼科 / 角膜

Outline of Final Research Achievements

For the ophthalmic application of optically-cleared tissues, their modification and animal experiments were investigated in this study. This study focused on the amnion that were widely used in the ophthalmology field, and examined their biocompatibility in vivo and also improvement in the tolerance to a suture and transparency. Firstly, it was confirmed that no inadequate biological responses to the optically-cleared amniotic membrane were observed during the transplanted into rabbit corneal stroma. Next, further functional refinements of the optically-cleared amnion, and additional tissue optical clearing were also induced. Further optical-clearing was effective to improve the transparency of the refinement processes. Furthermore, the improvements of mechanical properties were confirmed that it was possible to improve the mechanical property to about 10 times of the original amnion, and that the corneal transplantation, which requires a tight suture, was also possible.

Free Research Field

医用生体工学・生体材料学