Abstract
Corneal collagen has a number of properties that allow it to fulfil its role as the main structural component within the tissue. Fibrils are narrow, uniform in diameter and precisely organised. These properties are vital to maintain transparency and to provide the biomechanical prerequisites necessary to sustain shape and provide strength. This review describes the structure and arrangement of corneal collagen from the nanoscopic to the macroscopic level, and how this relates to the maintenance of the form and transparency of the cornea.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aghamohammadzadeh H, Newton RH, Meek KM (2004) X-ray scattering used to map the preferred collagen orientation in the human cornea and limbus. Structure 12:249–256
Akhtar S, Bron AJ, Salvi SM, Hawksworth NR, Tuft SJ, Meek KM (2008) Ultrastructural analysis of collagen fibrils and proteoglycans in keratoconus. Acta Ophthalmol Scand 86:764–772
Ameen DB, Bishop MF, McMullen T (1998) A lattice model for computing the transmissivity of the cornea and sclera. Biophys J 75:2520–2531. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(98)77697-0
Baselt DR, Revel JP, Baldeschweiler JD (1993) Subfibrillar structure of type I collagen observed by atomic force microscopy. Biophys J 65:2644–2655. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(93)81329-8
Benedek GB (1971) Theory of transparency of the eye. Appl Opt 10:459–473. doi:10.1364/AO.10.000459
Bergmanson JP, Horne J, Doughty MJ, Garcia M, Gondo M (2005) Assessment of the number of lamellae in the central region of the normal human corneal stroma at the resolution of the transmission electron microscope. Eye Contact Lens 31:281–287. doi:10.1097/01.ICL.0000165280.94927.0D
Binder PS, Rock ME, Schmidt C, Anderson JA (1991) High voltage electron microscopy of normal human cornea. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 32:2234–2243
Birk DE (2001) Type V collagen:heterotypic type I/V collagen interactions in the regulation of fibril assembly. Micron 32:223–237. doi:10.1016/S0968-4328(00)00043-3
Boote C, Dennis S, Newton RH, Puri H, Meek KM (2003) Collagen fibrils appear more closely packed in the prepupillary cornea: optical and biomechanical implications. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 44:2941–2948. doi:10.1167/iovs.03-0131
Boote C, Dennis S, Meek KM (2004) Spatial mapping of collagen fibril organisation in primate cornea–an x-ray diffraction investigation. J Struct Biol 146:359–367. doi:10.1016/j.jsb.2003.12.009
Boote C, Hayes S, Abahussin M, Meek KM (2006) Mapping collagen organization in the human cornea: left and right eyes are structurally distinct. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 46:901–908. doi:10.1167/iovs.05-0893
Boote C, Hayes S, Young RD, Kamma-Lorger C, Hocking PM, Elsheikh A, Inglehearn CF, Ali M, Meek KM (2009) Ultrastructural changes in the retinopathy, globe enlarged (rge) chick cornea. J Struct Biol 166(2):195–204
Chakravarti S, Magnuson T, Lass JH, Jepsen KJ, LaMantia C, Carroll H (1988) Lumican regulates collagen fibril assembly:skin fragility and corneal opacity in the absence of lumican. J Cell Biol 141:1277–1286. doi:10.1083/jcb.141.5.1277
Cogan DG, Kinsey VE (1942) The cornea. 1. Transfer of water and sodium chloride by osmosis and diffusion through excised cornea. Arch Ophthalmol 27:466–482
Cooper LJ, Bentley AJ, Nieduszynski IA, Talabani S, Thomson A, Utani A, Shinkai H, Fullwood NJ, Brown GM (2006) The role of dermatopontin in the stromal organisation of the cornea. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 47:3303–3310. doi:10.1167/iovs.05-1426
Cox JL, Farrell RA, Hart RW, Langham ME (1970) The transparency of the mammalian cornea. J Physiol 210:601–616
Craig AS, Parry DAD (1981) Collagen fibrils of the vertebrate cornea stroma. J Ultrastruct Res 74:232–239. doi:10.1016/S0022-5320(81)80081-0
Craig AS, Robertson JG, Parry DA (1986) Preservation of corneal collagen fibril structure using low-temperature procedures for electron moicroscopy. J Ultrastruct Mol Struct Res 96:172–175. doi:10.1016/0889-1605(86)90018-2
Daxer A, Fratzl P (1997) Collagen fibril organisation in the human corneal stroma and its implications in keratoconus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 38:121–129
Daxer A, Misof K, Grabner B, Ettl A, Fratzl P (1998) Collagen fibrils in the human corneal stroma:structure and ageing. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 39:644–647
Doughty MJ, Bergmanson JPG (2006) Assessment of the apparent intra- and inter-sample variability in the collagen fibril diameter in the posterior corneal stroma of rabbits. A transmission electron microscope study. Ophthalmic Res 38:335–342. doi:10.1159/000096228
Elliott GF, Hodson SA (1998) Cornea, and the swelling of polyelectrolyte gels of biological interest. Rep Prog Phys 61:1325–1365. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/61/10/001
Elliott GF, Sayers Z, Timmins PA (1982) Neutron diffraction studies of the corneal stroma. J Mol Biol 155:389–393. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(82)90011-0
Farrell RA, Hart RW (1969) On the theory of the spatial organisation of macromolecules in connective tissue. Bull Math Biophys 31:727–760. doi:10.1007/BF02477784
Fratzl P, Daxer A (1993) Structural transformation of collagen fibrils in corneal stroma during drying. An x-ray scattering study. Biophys J 64:1210–1214. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(93)81487-5
Freund DE, McCally RL, Farrell RA, Cristol SM, L’Hernault NL, Edelhauser HF (1995) ultrastructure in anterior and posterior stroma of perfused human and rabbit corneas. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 36:1508–1523
Gisselberg M, Clark JI, Vaezy S, Osgood TB (1991) A quantitative evaluation of Fourier components in transparent and opaque calf cornea. Am J Anat 191:408–418. doi:10.1002/aja.1001910408
Goh KL, Holmes DF, Lu H-Y, Richardson S, Kadler KE, Purslow PP, Wess TJ (2008) Ageing changes in the tensile properties of tendons: Influence of collagen fibril volume fraction. J Biomech Eng 130:1–8. doi:10.1115/1.2898732
Goodfellow JM, Elliott GF, Woolgar AE (1978) X-ray diffraction studies of the corneal stroma. J Mol Biol 119:237–252
Gordon MK, Foley JW, Linsenmayer TF, Fitch JM (1996) Temporal expression of types XII and XIV collagen mRNA and protein during avian corneal development. Dev Dyn 206:49–58. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0177(199605)206:1<49::AID-AJA5>3.0.CO;2-0
Gyi TJ, Meek KM, Elliott GF (1988) Collagen interfibrillar distances in corneal stroma using synchrotron X-ray diffraction: a species study. Int J Biol Macromol 10:265–269. doi:10.1016/0141-8130(88)90002-5
Han M, Giese G, Bille JF (2005) Second harmonic generation imaging of collagen fibrils in cornea and sclera. Opt Express 13:5791–5797. doi:10.1364/OPEX.13.005791
Harding JJ, Crabbe MJC, Panjwani NA (1980) Corneal collagen. In: Robert L, Robert A (eds) Biochemistry of normal and pathological connective tissues. Colloques Internationaux du C.N.R.S. 287: 51–64
Hayashida Y, Akama TO, Beecher N, Lewis P, Young RD, Meek KM, Kerr B, Hughes CE, Caterson B, Tanigami A, Nakayama J, Fukada MN, Tano Y, Nishida K, Quantock AJ (2006) Matrix morphogenesis in cornea is mediated by the modification of keratan sulfate by GlcNAc 6-O sulphotransferase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:13333–13338. doi:10.1073/pnas.0605441103
Hayes S, Boote C, Lewis J, Sheppard J, Abahussin M, Quantock AJ, Purslow C, Votruba M, Meek KM (2007) Comparative study of fibrillar collagen arrangement in the corneas of primates and other mammals. Anat Rec 290:1542–1550. doi:10.1002/ar.20613
Hirsch M, Prenant G, Renard G (2001) The three-dimensional supramolecular organisation of the extracellular matrix in human and rabbit corneal stroma as revealed by ultrarapid-freezing and deep-etching methods. Exp Eye Res 72:123–135. doi:10.1006/exer.2000.0935
Hodson SA, Miller F (1976) The bicarbonate ion pump in the endothelium which regulates the hydration of rabbit cornea. J Physiol 263:563–577
Hodson S, Kaila D, Hammond S, Rebello G, Al-Omari Y (1992) Transient chloride binding as a contributory factor to corneal stromal swelling in the ox. J Physiol 450:89–103
Holmes DF, Kadler KE (2004) The precision of lateral size control in the assembly of corneal collagen fibrils. J Mol Biol 345:773–784. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2004.10.078
Holmes DF, Gilpin CJ, Baldock C, Ziese U, Koster AJ, Kadler KE (2001) Corneal collagen fibril structure in three dimensions: structural insights into fibril assembly, mechanical properties, and tissue organization. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:7307–7312. doi:10.1073/pnas.111150598
Howell SJ, Doane KJ (1998) Type VI collagen increases cell survival and prevents anti-beta 1 integrin-mediated apoptosis. Exp Cell Res 241:230–241. doi:10.1006/excr.1998.4051
Huang Y, Bron AJ, Meek KM, Velodi A, McDonald B (1996) Ultrastructural study of the cornea in a bone-marrow transplanted Hurler syndrome patient. Exp Eye Res 62:377–387. doi:10.1006/exer.1996.0043
Hulmes DJS, Wess TJ, Prockop DJ, Fratzl P (1995) Radial packing, order, and disorder in collagen fibrils. Biophys J 68:1661–1670. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(95)80391-7
Ihanamäki T, Pelliniemi LJ, Vuorio E (2004) Collagens and collagen-related matrix components in the human and mouse eye. Prog Retin Eye Res 23:403–434. doi:10.1016/j.preteyeres.2004.04.002
Itoh T, Klein L, Geil PH (1981) Age dependence of collagen fibrils and subfibril diameters revealed by transverse freeze-fracture and -etching technique. J Microsc 125:343–357
Jayasuriya AC, Scheinbeim JI, Lubkin V, Bennett G, Kramer P (2003) Piezoelectric and mechanical properties in bovine cornea. J Biomed Mater Res 66A:260–265. doi:10.1002/jbm.a.10536
Kamma-Lorger CS, Boote C, Young RD, Hayes S, Quantock AJ, Meek KM (2009) Depth profile study of collagen molecular structure in normal human cornea. Acta Ophthalmol (Copenh) 86:S243
Kanai A, Kaufman HE (1973) Electron microscopic studies of swollen corneal stroma. Ann Ophthalmol 5:178–190
Knupp C, Lewis PN, Young, RD, Pinali, C, Meek, KM, Quantock AJ (2009) Three-dimensional electron tomography throws new light on the structure of the cornea. ARVO e-abstract 4532/D77. Available at www.iovs.org
Kobayashi A (2008) In vivo laser confocal microscopic analysis of the interface between Bowman’s layer and the stroma of the cornea. Nippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi 112:947–952
Koch M, Laub F, Zhou P, Hahn R, Tanaka S, Burgeson RE, Gerecke DR, Ramirez F, Gordon MK (2003) Collagen XXIV, a vertebrate fibrillar collagen with structural features of invertebrate collagens: selective expression in developing cornea and bone. J Biol Chem 278:43236–43244. doi:10.1074/jbc.M302112200
Komai Y, Ushiki T (1991) The three-dimensional organisation of collagen fibrils in the human cornea and sclera. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 32:2244–2258
Kostyuk O, Nalovina O, Mubard TM, Regini JW, Meek KM, Quantock AJ, Elliott GF, Hodson SA (2002) transparency of the bovine corneal stroma at physiological hydration and its dependence on concentration of the ambient ion. J Physiol 2:633–642. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2002.021527
Leonard DW, Meek KM (1997) Refractive indices of the collagen fibrils and extrafibrillar material of the corneal stroma. Biophys J 72:1382–1387. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(97)78784-8
Linsenmayer TF, Gibney E, Igoe F, Gordon MK, Fitch JM, Fessler LI, Birk DE (1993) Type V collagen: molecular structure and fibrillar organization of the chicken alpha-1(V) NH2-terminal domain, a putative regulator of corneal fibrillogenesis. J Cell Biol 121:1181–1189. doi:10.1083/jcb.121.5.1181
Malik NS, Moss SJ, Ahmed N, Furth AJ, Wall RS, Meek KM (1992) Ageing of the human corneal stroma: structural and biochemical changes. Biochim Biophys Acta 1138:222–228
Marchini M, Morocutti M, Ruggeri A, Koch MHJ, Bigi A, Roveri N (1986) Differences in the fibril structure of corneal and tendon collagen. An electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction investigation. Connect Tissue Res 15:269–281. doi:10.3109/03008208609001985
Maroudas A, Wachtel E, Grushko G, Katz EP, Weinberg P (1991) The effect of osmotic and mechanical pressures on water partitioning in articular cartilage. Biochim Biophys Acta 1073:285–294
Mathew JH, Bergmanson JPG, Doughty MJ (2008) Fine structure of the interface between the anterior limiting lamina and the anterior stromal fibrils of the human cornea. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 49:3914–3918. doi:10.1167/iovs.07-0707
Maurice DM (1957) The structure and transparency of the cornea. J Physiol 136:263–286
Maurice DM (1969) Cornea and Sclera. In: Davson H (ed) The eye. Academic Press, London
McCally RL, Freund DE, Zorn A, Bonney-Ray J, Grebe R, de la Cruz Z, Green WR (2007) Light scattering and ultrastructure of healed penetrating corneal wounds. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 48:157–165. doi:10.1167/iovs.06-0935
Meek KM (2008) The cornea and sclera. In: Fratzl P (ed) Collagen. Structure and biomechanics. Springer Science +Business Media, New York, pp 359–396
Meek KM, Boote C (2004) The organization of collagen in the corneal stroma. Exp Eye Res 78:503–512. doi:10.1016/j.exer.2003.07.003
Meek KM, Fullwood NJ (2001) Corneal and scleral collagens—a microscopists perspective. Micron 32:261–272. doi:10.1016/S0968-4328(00)00041-X
Meek KM, Holmes DF (1983) Interpretation of the electron microscopical appearance of collagen fibrils from corneal stroma. Int J Biol Macromol 5:17–25. doi:10.1016/0141-8130(83)90073-9
Meek KM, Leonard DW (1993) The Ultrastructure of the corneal stroma: a comparative study. Biophys J 64:273–280. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(93)81364-X
Meek KM, Elliott GF, Sayers W, SB KM (1981) Interpretation of the meridional X-ray diffraction pattern from collagen fibrils in corneal stroma. J Mol Biol 149:477–488. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(81)90482-4
Meek KM, Elliott GF, Nave C (1986) A synchrotron x-ray diffraction study of bovine cornea stained with cupromeronic blue. Coll Res Rel 6:203–218
Meek KM, Blamires T, Elliott GF, Gyi T, Nave C (1987) The organisation of collagen fibrils in the human corneal stroma: A synchrotron X-ray diffraction study. Curr Eye Res 6:841–846. doi:10.3109/02713688709034853
Meek KM, Fullwood NJ, Cooke PH, Elliott GF, Maurice DM, Quantock AJ, Wall RS, Worthington CR (1991) Synchrotron X-ray diffraction studies of the cornea with implications for stromal hydration. Biophys J 60:467–474. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(91)82073-2
Meek KM, Leonard DW, Connon CJ, Dennis S, Meek KM (2003a) Transparency, swelling and scarring in the corneal stroma. Eye 17:927–936. doi:10.1038/sj.eye.6700574
Meek KM, Quantock AJ, Boote C, Liu CY, Kao WW-Y (2003b) An x-ray scattering investigation of corneal structure in keratocan-deficient mice. Matrix Biol 22:467–475. doi:10.1016/S0945-053X(03)00081-7
Meek KM, Dennis S, Khan S (2003c) Changes in the refractive index of the stroma and its extrafibrillar matrix when the cornea swells. Biophys J 85:2205–2212. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(03)74646-3
Meller D, Peters K, Meller K (1997) Human cornea and sclera studied by atomic force microscopy. Cell Tissue Res 288:111–118. doi:10.1007/s004410050798
Miyagawa A, Kobayashi M, Fujita Y, Hamdy O, Hirano K, Nakamura M, Miyake Y (2001) Surface ultrastructure of collagen fibrils and their association with proteoglycans in human cornea and sclera by atomic force microscopy and energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy. Cornea 20:651–656. doi:10.1097/00003226-200108000-00019
Morishige N, Petroll WM, Nishida T, Kenney MC, Jester JV (2006) Noninvasive corneal stromal collagen imaging using two-photon-generated second-harmonic signals. J Cataract Refract Surg 32:1784–1791. doi:10.1016/j.jcrs.2006.08.027
Müller LJ, Pels E, Vrensen GFJM (2001) The specific architecture of the anterior stroma accounts for maintenance of corneal curvature. Br J Ophthalmol 85:437–443. doi:10.1136/bjo.85.4.437
Müller LJ, Pels E, Schurmans LRH, Vrensen GFJM (2004) A new three-dimensional model of the organisation of proteoglycans and collagen fibrils in the human corneal stroma. Exp Eye Res 78:493–501. doi:10.1016/S0014-4835(03)00206-9
Naylor EJ (1953) Polarized light studies of corneal structure. Br J Ophthalmol 37:77–84. doi:10.1136/bjo.37.2.77
Newton RH, Meek KM (1998a) Circum-corneal annulus of collagen fibrils in the human limbus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 39:1125–1134
Newton RH, Meek KM (1998b) The integration of the corneal and limbal fibrils in the human eye. Biophys J 75:2508–2512. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(98)77695-7
Orgel JPRO, Irving TC, Miller A, Wess TJ (2006) Microfibrillar structure of type I collagen in situ. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:9001–9005. doi:10.1073/pnas.0502718103
Ottani V, Martini D, Franchi M, Ruggeri A, Raspanti M (2002) Hierarchical structures in fibrillar collagens. Micron 33:587–596. doi:10.1016/S0968-4328(02)00033-1
Parry DAD (1988) The molecular and fibrillar structure of collagen and its relationship to the mechanical properties of connective tissue. Biophys Chem 29:195–209. doi:10.1016/0301-4622(88)87039-X
Parry DA, Craig AS (1979) Electron microscope evidence for an 80A unit in collagen fibrils. Nature 282:213–215. doi:10.1038/282213a0
Parry DA, Barnes GR, Craig AS (1978) A comparison of the size distribution of collagen fibrils in connective tissues as a function of age and a possible relation between fibril size distribution and mechanical properties. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 203:305–321. doi:10.1098/rspb.1978.0107
Payrau P, Pouliquen Y, Faure JP, Offret G (1967) La Transparence de la Cornée, la Mécanismes de ses Altérations. Masson et Cie, Paris
Pinsky P, Datye V (1991) A microstructurally-based finite element model of the incised human cornea. J Biomech 10:907–922. doi:10.1016/0021-9290(91)90169-N
Polack FM (1961) Morphology of the cornea. 1. Study with silver stains. Am J Ophthalmol 51:1051–1056
Prum RO, Torres RH (2004) Structural colouration of mammalian skin:convergent evolution of coherently scattering dermal collagen arrays. J Exp Biol 207:2157–2172. doi:10.1242/jeb.00989
Quantock AJ, Young RD (2008) Development of the corneal stroma, and the collagen–proteoglycan associations that help define its structure and function. Dev Dyn 237:2607–2621. doi:10.1002/dvdy.21579
Quantock AJ, Meek KM, Fullwood NJ, Zabel RW (1993) Scheie’s syndrome: the architecture of corneal collagen and distribution of corneal proteoglycans. Can J Ophthalmol 28:266–272
Quantock AJ, Meek KM, Chakravarti S (2001) An x-ray diffraction investigation of corneal structure in lumican-deficient mice. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 42:1750–1756
Quantock AJ, Boote C, Young RD, Hayes S, Hidetoshi T, Kawasaki S, Ohta N, Iida T, Yagi N, Kinoshita S, Meek KM (2007) Small-angle fibre diffraction studies of corneal matrix structure: a depth-profiled investigation of the human eye-bank cornea. J Appl Crystallography 40:s335–s340
Radner W, Zehetmayer M, Aufreiter R, Mallinger R (1998) Interlacing and cross-angle distribution of collagen lamellae in the human cornea. Cornea 17:537–543. doi:10.1097/00003226-199809000-00012
Rawe IM, Leonard DW, Meek KM (1997) X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy of Morquio syndrome type A cornea: a structural analysis. Cornea 16:369–376. doi:10.1097/00003226-199705000-00021
Regini JW, Elliott GF, Hodson SA (2004) The ordering of corneal collagen fibrils with increasing ionic strength. J Mol Biol 336:179–186. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2003.12.001
Ricard-Blum S, Ruggiero F (2005) The collagen superfamily: from the extracellular matrix to the cell membrane. Pathol Biol (Paris) 53:430–442. doi:10.1016/j.patbio.2004.12.024
Sandberg-Lall M, Hagg PO, Wahlstrom I, Pihlajaniemi T (2000) Type XIII collagen is widely expressed in the adult and developing human eye and accentuated in the ciliary muscle, the optic nerve and the neural retina. Exp Eye Res 70:401–410. doi:10.1006/exer.1998.0826
Sayers Z, Koch MHJ, Whitburn SB, Meek KM, Elliott GF, Harmsen A (1982) Synchrotron x-ray diffraction study of corneal stroma. J Mol Biol 160:593–607. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(82)90317-5
Scott JE, Haigh M (1985) ‘Small’-proteoglycan: collagen interactions: Keratan sulphate proteoglycan associates with rabbit corneal collagen fibrils at the ‘a’ and ‘c’ bands. Biosci Rep 5:765–774. doi:10.1007/BF01119875
Vukusik P, Sambles JR (2003) Photonic structures in biology. Nature 424:852–855. doi:10.1038/nature01941
Wess TJ (2008) Collagen fibrillar structure and hierarchies. In: Fratzl P (ed) Collagen. Structure and mechanics. Springer Science +Business Media, New York, pp 49–48
Wessel H, Anderson S, Fite D, Halvas E, Hempel J, SundarRaj N (1997) Type XII collagen contributes to diversities in human corneal and limbal extracellular matrices. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 38:2408–2422
Wollensack G, Spöerl E, Seiler T (2003) Treatment of keratoconus by collagen crosslinking. Ophthalmologe 100:44–49. doi:10.1007/s00347-002-0700-3
Worthington CR (1984) The structure of the cornea. Q Rev Biophys 17:423–451
Worthington CR, Inouye H (1985) X-ray diffraction study of the cornea. Int J Biol Macromol 7:2–8. doi:10.1016/0141-8130(85)90057-1
Yamamoto S, Hashizume H, Hitomi J, Shigeno M, Sawaguchi S, Abe H, Ushiki T (2000) The subfibrillar arrangement of corneal and scleral collagens as revealed by scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. Arch Histol Cytol 63:127–135. doi:10.1679/aohc.63.127
Yamamoto S, Hitomi J, Sawaguchi S, Abe H, Shigeno M, Ushiki T (2002) Observation of human corneal and scleral collagen fibrils by atomic force microscopy. Jpn J Ophthalmol 46:496–501. doi:10.1016/S0021-5155(02)00558-0
Yamauchi M, Chandler GS, Tanzawa H, Katz EP (1996) Cross-linking and the molecular packing of corneal collagen. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 219:311–315. doi:10.1006/bbrc.1996.0229
Acknowledgements
The corneal research programme at Cardiff University is supported by the MRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, STFC and ESRF. Keith Meek is a Royal Society/Wolfson Merit Award holder. The author thanks Dr. C. Boote for helpful comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Meek, K.M. Corneal collagen—its role in maintaining corneal shape and transparency. Biophys Rev 1, 83–93 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12551-009-0011-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12551-009-0011-x