Oxidative Stress to the Cornea, Changes in Corneal Optical Properties, and Advances in Treatment of Corneal Oxidative Injuries

Figure 2

Averaged absorption spectra of rabbit corneas, expressed as the transmittance or absorbance , after alkali injury of the rabbit eye with 0.1 M or 0.5 M NaOH (10 drops during 1 min and then the eye was rinsed with tap water). The spectrum of unirradiated corneas (healthy eyes; mean from 6 measurements) is also included for comparison. Note that, for wavelengths shorter than about 300 nm, the spectra show the instrumental stray light error rather than the corneal optical properties (absorption spectra of rabbit corneas were obtained using a spectrophotometrical method described by Čejka et al. [22]). The corneal light absorption increased along with the increase in the concentration of the alkali. Also, the changes in corneal transparency proceeded in parallel with increasing concentrations of alkali.