Why the cornea swells

Abstract

Reasons are given to support the hypothesis that the corneal stroma swells because of the Donnan potential associated with the acidic groups of the tissue mucopolysaccharides. It is suggested that, in cornea, the swelling tendency is not opposed by any structural cross-linking but is fully expressed. The model gives good predictions of the empirically measured parameters: corneal swelling pressure against thickness and the rate at which corneal stroma swells. The hypothesis discounts any but negligible masking of the mucopolysaccharide acidic groups by “bound” cations.