We investigated the relationship between transmitted intensity in the 4000-5000cm-1(2.5-2νm) region of the near infrared spectrum along with the hydration state of the corneal stroma. During the process of oedema, as the hydration level of the cornea is increased, the tissue thickness increases in a linear fashion. The infrared transmittivity of the cornea is known to be very similar to that of an equivalent path length of water, therefore there should exist a correlation between transmitted intensity and hydration state of the cornea. We investigated this relation theoretically using a simple model and experimentally using FTIR and a simple swelling experiment on full thicknes (800νm) bovine cornea, with physiological hydration as a start point. It is found that the relationship between intensity and hydration is linear; we compare this with our theoretical observations.
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