Assessing the effects of storage medium on the biomechanical properties of porcine lens with optical coherence elastography

There has been a large amount of research focused on studying the biomechanical properties of the lens ex vivo. However, the storage medium of the lenses may affect the biomechanical evaluation during ex vivo measurements, which has been demonstrated with other tissues such as the cornea. In this work, we utilized a focused micro air-pulse and phase-sensitive optical coherence elastography to quantify the changes in lenticular biomechanical properties when incubated in different media, temperatures, and pHs for up to 24 hours. The results show that the lenses became stiffer when incubated at lower temperatures and higher pHs. Meanwhile, lenses incubated in M-199 were more mechanically stable than lenses incubated in PBS and DMEM.