Effect of Static and Dynamic Stretching on Corneal Fibroblast Cell

Abstract

A strain gradient was created by punching a hole in the center of a stretched elastic polydimethylsiloxane membrane to determine the effect of different strains on cultured human keratocytes (HK). In this study, two stretching methods were used: continuous stretching and cyclic stretching. Continuous stretching is relatively static, while acyclic stretching is relatively dynamic. These methods, respectively, represented the effects of high intraocular pressure and rubbing of the eyes on corneal cells. Image processing codes were developed to observe the effects of stress concentration, shear stress, continuous stretching, and cyclic stretching on HKs. The results demonstrate that stretching and shear stress are not conducive to the proliferation of corneal cells and instead cause cell death. A 10% strain had greater inhibitory effects than a 3% strain on cell proliferation. Cell survival rates for continuous stretching (static) were higher than those for cyclic stretching (dynamic). The stretching experiment revealed that cyclic stretching has a greater inhibitory effect on the growth and proliferation of corneal cells than continuous stretching. Accordingly, it shows that cyclic loading is more harmful than high intraocular pressure (static loading) to corneal cells.