Measurement of central corneal thickness and pre-corneal tear film thickness of rabbits using the Scheimpflug system

• Main Authors: Jing Dong, Qiang Wu, Xiao-Gang Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Press of International Journal of Ophthalmology (IJO PRESS) 2013-10-01
• Series: International Journal of Ophthalmology
• Subjects: tear film; Scheimpflug; rabbits; central corneal thickness; fluorescein
• Online Access: http://www.ijo.cn/en_publish/2013/5/20130506.pdf

<b>AIM:</b>To measure central corneal thickness (CCT) and pre-corneal tear film thickness using the Galilei dual-Scheimpflug analyzer (GSA) in New Zealand white rabbits.<b>METHODS:</b>Ten normal New Zealand white rabbits (20 eyes) were included in this study. With the assistance of 0.1% fluorescein, the pre-corneal tear film can be well visualized. Both eyes of each rabbit were scanned once with the GSA pre- and post-instillation of 1μL 0.1% fluorescein. The difference between the two measurements of CCT (4-mm diameter) was recorded as the pachymetric values of the central tear film.<b>RESULTS:</b>The CCT of pre- and post-instillation was 388.8±9.5μm and 407.0±10.5μm, respectively. After a paired <i>t</i>-test analysis, the central pre-corneal tear film thickness of 4mm diameter was 18.2±5.31μm with a 95% confidence interval of (15.7, 20.6)μm (<i>P</i><0.001).<b>CONCLUSION:</b>GSA can be used to measure CCT and analyze central tear film thickness of rabbits with the help of fluorescein.