Analysis of the Optical Properties Affected by the Nanostructures of the Corneal Stroma

Nanostructures of the collagen fibers play an important role in the corneal stroma. It influences the optical properties and transparency of the cornea. Several theoretical studies indicate that the cornea presents transparent because of the suitable diameter of collagen fibers, the arrangement between layers of the lamellar, and the refractive index of collagen fibers and fillers in the stroma [1]. The cornea is the transparent substance at the front of the eye. From the outside to the inside layers of the cornea are divided into epithelium, bowman’s layer, stroma, descemet’s membrane and endothelium. The thickness of the stroma is about 500 μm, which is about 90% of the total thickness of the cornea. It is made of 200 lamellar crystal layers which are stacked at an angle to each layers, and lamellar crystal consists type I and IV collagen fiber structure. In 1957, D. M. Mauurice proposed the theory of lattice arrangement in the fibrous structure of the corneal stroma layer [2].