Morphometric Comparison of the Acute Rabbit Corneal Response to 1540 nm Laser Light Following In Vitro Exposure to Millisecond or Nanosecond Pulse Widths

摘要

Significant damage to rabbit corneal tissue was produced by a single pulse, in vitro exposure of 1540 nm infrared laser light operating in either millisecond or nanosecond pulse widths. Millisecond pulse widths of infrared laser light produced a marked coagulative necrosis of both the corneal epithelium and stroma. We also noted histologic alterations in the stromal matrix within the beam path that we inter preted as matrix remodeling. To test this interpretation, we used an indirect immunohistochemical procedure to detect Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activity. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the MMP-2 reaction was mostly limited to the margins of the beam path, In addition, the MMP-2 reaction was less intense than expected given the significant tissue changes observed in the histologic sections. Exposure of rabbit corneal tissue to the nanosecond pulse widths produced a less severe coagulative necrosis of the tissue when compared to the millisecond exposures. However, a markedly stronger immunohistochemical pattern than would have been predicted from the histologic sections was observed, with approximately half of the beam path filled with MMP-2 reaction product. These data suggest an association between infrared laser pulse width and the degree of extracellular matrix remodeling in rabbit corneal tissue.