THIS RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO DEVELOP A CLINICAL DEVICE TO MEASURE CORNEAL OXYGEN CONSUMPTION NONINVASIVELY.

THIS RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO DEVELOP A CLINICAL DEVICE TO MEASURE CORNEAL OXYGEN CONSUMPTION NONINVASIVELY. THE DEVICE WILL OPERATE BY MEASURING THE RATE OF DECREASE OF THEOXYGEN TENSION IN A MEMBRANE RESERVOIR APPLIED BRIEFLY TO THE CORNEA. MATHEMATICAL NALAYSIS OF THE RESULTING DATA WILL GIVE OXYGEN CONSUMPTION IN THE COMPONENT LAYERS OF THE CORNEA. THE AIMS OF THIS PHASE I RESEARCH ARE TO ESTABLISH THE TECHNICAL MERIT AND FEASIBILITY OF THE OPERATING PRINCI-PLES OF THE MONITOR. PHASE II WILL LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE OXYGEN CONSUMPTION MONITOR FOR COMMERCIAL APPLICATION. THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO HAVE SUCH A DEVICE GENERALLY AVAILABLE FOR CLINICAL PROCEDURES SUCH AS CORNEAL MEASUREMENTS TO EVALUATE THE MOST APPROPRIATE CONTACT LENS MATERIAL, ESPECIALLY FOR EXTENDED WEAR LENSES. PHASE I AIMSARE GROUPED IN THREE MAIN CATEGORIES: . DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICAL MODELS TO BE USED IN THE THEORETICAL TREATMENT OF THE MEASURED RATE OF OXYGEN TENSION (PO2) DECREASE RECORDED FOLLOWING APPLICATION OF THE SENSOR TO THE CORNEA. . MODIFICATION OF AN EXISTING POLAROGRAPHIC OXYGEN ELEC- TRODE TO A PREPROTOTYPE OXYGEN UPTAKE SENSOR. THE MAIN FEATURE WILL BE THE ISOLATION OF THE CORNEA FROM THE ELECTRODE BY AN INTERVENING OXYGEN RESERVOIR MEMBRANE. . TESTING AND EVALUATION OF THE PREPROTOTYPE IN VITRO AND USING RABBIT CORNEAS TO DETERMINE ITS ENGINEERING AND PHYSIOLOGICAL FEASIBILITY.