X-ray scattering experiments were performed on human corneas during drying. In a first stage the collagen interfibrillar distance decreased considerably. Then, at a critical point of dehydration, a structural transformation of the collagen fibrils was observed. This finding leads to a two-stage drying model, which explains the discrepancy between the collagen fibril diameters determined by x-ray scattering and by electron microscopy. Our results strongly suggest that the collagen fibrils in the corneal stroma are surrounded by a cylindrical coating made mainly of proteoglycans. The coating appears as a three-dimensional fractal network with fractal dimension of 2.7 +/- 0.1.

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Drs. Mahmoud and Venkateswaran have no financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned. Additional disclosure is found in the footnotes.

The neovascularisation formation and regression process of the peripheral retina in diabetic retinopathy was studied by means of fractal analysis. The fractal dimension of the local retinal vessel pattern was calculated to be significantly lower before formation of relevant neovascularisations than 2.5 years later, after formation of strong preretinal neovascularisations. Another year later the new vessels had regressed partially and the fractal dimension was again significantly reduced. This behaviour is almost independent of the representation of the vessel thickness during calculation. Since the retinal vasculature is a fractal, the fractal dimension appears as the "natural" measure of proliferative retinal vessel changes. It is demonstrated that the fractal dimension can be applied to characterise proliferative diabetic retinopathy. These features offer the possibility for computer-driven ("automated") quantitative characterisation of the treatment effect in proliferative diabetic retinopathy and possibly automated detection of proliferative diabetic retinopathy in the future. The limitations of the method are discussed.