Abstract
PURPOSE: The lamina cribrosa (LC) is a complex network of collagenous beams that maintains mechanical homeostasis in response to fluctuations in intraocular pressure, thus protecting retinal ganglion cell axons exiting the eye. Understanding the structure and function of the LC may provide new insights into glaucomatous neurodegeneration. The purpose of this study is to utilize a two-photon fabrication technique to fabricate a model of the human LC (mLC) to scale. METHODS: Segmented multiphoton microscopy images of human LC tissues from a prior study were used to two-photon polymerize three mLCs. The mLCs were subsequently imaged using micro-computed tomography. Regional and full-field structural anisotropies and global microstructure were compared between the input and micro-computed tomography mLC images. RESULTS: Structural analysis of the LC tissues and mLCs demonstrates that various characteristics were closely maintained after fabrication. There was variation in the parameters across samples. Pore eccentricity, structural anisotropy, and pore convexity were all closely recapitulated with an error of less than approximately 15%. CONCLUSIONS: Generating a model of the human LC from segmented images is the first step toward a biomimetic approach to patient-specific modeling of the LC. Future work to improve the resolution and match the material properties of LC native tissues will generate a powerful model for mechanobiological studies. Mechanobiological experiments may be useful to understand the underlying mechanisms that drive glaucoma disease initiation and progression. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: This study introduces a novel method to fabricate the human LC, which can allow for patient-specific mechanobiological models of the LC in glaucoma.