Shear modulus data for the human lens determined from a spinning lens test

The paper describes a program of mechanical testing on donated human eye bank lenses. The principal purpose of the tests was to obtain experimental data on the shear modulus of the lens for use in future computational models of the accommodation process. Testing was conducted using a procedure in which deformations are induced in the lens by spinning it about its polar axis. Shear modulus data were inferred from these observed deformations by means of a finite element inverse analysis procedure in which the spatial variation of the shear modulus within the lens is represented by an appropriate function (see Burd et al., 2011 for a detailed specification of the design of the spinning lens test rig, experimental protocols and associated data analysis procedures that were employed in the tests). Inferred data on lens shear modulus are presented for a set of twenty-nine lenses in the age range 12 years to 58 years. The lenses were tested between 47 h and 110 h from the time of death (average post-mortem time 74 h). Care was taken to exclude any lenses that had been affected by excessive post-mortem swelling, or any lenses that had suffered mechanical damage during storage, transit or the testing process. The experimental data on shear modulus indicate that, for young lenses, the cortex is stiffer than the nucleus. The shear modulus of the nucleus and cortex both increase with increasing age. The shear modulus of the nucleus increases more rapidly than the cortex with the consequence that from an age of about 45 years onwards the nucleus is stiffer than the cortex. The principal shear modulus data presented in the paper were obtained by testing at a rotational speed of 1000 rpm. Supplementary tests were conducted at rotational speeds of 700 rpm and 1400 rpm. The results from these supplementary tests are in good agreement with the data obtained from the principal 1000 rpm tests. Studies on the possible effects of lens drying during the test suggested that this factor is unlikely to have led to significant errors in the experimental determination of the shear modulus. The shear modulus data presented in the paper are used to develop ‘age-stiffness’ models to represent the shear modulus of the lens as a function of age. These models are in a form that may be readily incorporated in a finite element model of the accommodation process. A comparison is attempted between the shear modulus data presented in the current paper and equivalent data published by previous authors. This comparison highlights various limitations and inconsistencies in the data sets.