Authors: Shrestha Basu Mallick Sandhya Bhagwandin Albena Ivanisevic
Publish Date: 2006/07/19
Volume: 386, Issue: 3, Pages: 652-657
Abstract
Bruch’s membrane is a layer composed of collagen fibers located just beneath the retina This study validates a strategy used to map the morphological and adhesion characteristics of collagen fibers in Bruch’s membrane Atomic force microscopy tips were functionalized with different chemical groups and used to map the hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions on the surface of the eye tissue The largest adhesion forces were observed when tips functionalized with NH2 groups were used The trend in the adhesion forces was rationalized based on the distribution of different functional groups in the triplehelical structure of the collagen fibers The results of this study can be used to design more effective strategies to treat eye diseases such as agerelated macular degenerationThis work was supported by the Bindley Biosciences Center at Purdue We thank the veterinary staff of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering for extracting the eyes after pig surgery SB thanks NSF for support through the REU program EEC0353901
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