Figure 2.

Intrastromal injection of HAse did not impact corneal transparency but decreased CCT. (A) In total, 1000 U/eye of HAse was injected intrastromally (4 sites at 25 µL/site; blue arrows) to the right eye of 12 rabbits and an equal volume of BSS (vehicle) was injected in the left eye as a control; corneal edema was observed in the peripheral cornea postinjection in both groups. However, HAse-injected areas (blue arrows) returned to normal transparency on day 1 following injection. The FD-OCT images demonstrated increased thickness and echogenicity immediately following injection of HAse or BSS in the peripheral stroma using a corneal long-lens module (CL) with an 8-mm scan length. At days 1 and 7 postinjection, CCT was significantly thinner in HAse- versus BSS-injected corneas as demonstrated with FD-OCT using a short-lens module (CS) with a 3-mm scan length in the central cornea. (B) Using ultrasonic pachymetry, maximal reduction in CCT was observed at 7 days postinjection and then returned to baseline (+) at day 35 in HAse- versus BSS-treated eyes (*). Results are expressed as mean ± SD. ⁺P < 0.05 compared to baseline, *P < 0.05 between the groups at the same time point; 1-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey's pairwise multiple comparison test.