ABSTRACT
The purpose is to estimate the oxygen diffusion coefficient and the relaxation time of the cornea with respect to the oxygen tension at the cornea-tears interface. Both findings are discussed. From the experimental data provided by Bonanno et al., the oxygen tension measurements in vivo for human cornea-tears-contact lens (CL), the relaxation time of the cornea, and their oxygen diffusion coefficient were obtained by numerical calculation using the Monod-kinetic model. Our results, considering the relaxation time of the cornea, observe a different behavior. At the time less than 8 s, the oxygen diffusivity process is upper-diffusive, and for the relaxation time greater than 8 s, the oxygen diffusivity process is lower-diffusive. Both cases depend on the partial pressure of oxygen at the entrance of the cornea. The oxygen tension distribution in the cornea-tears interface is separated into two different zones: one for conventional hydrogels, which is located between 6 and 75 mmHg, with a relaxation time included between 8 and 19 s, and the other zone for silicone hydrogel CLs, which is located at high oxygen tension, between 95 and 140 mmHg, with a relaxation time in the interval of 1.5-8 s. It is found that in each zone, the diffusion coefficient varies linearly with the oxygen concentration, presenting a discontinuity in the transition of 8 s. This could be interpreted as an aerobic-to-anaerobic transition. We attribute this behavior to the coupling formalism between oxygen diffusion and biochemical reactions to produce adenosine triphosphate. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 108B:14-21, 2020.
