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    Estimating the Mechanical Properties of Retinal Tissue Using Contact Angle Measurements of a Spreading Droplet

    Year: 2013

    Journal: Langmuir, 29, pp 5080-5084, 20130926

    Authors: Colin A. Grant, Peter C. Twigg, Michael D. Savage, W. Hong Woon, Mark Wilson, Denis Greig

    Organizations: Advanced Materials Engineering RKT Centre, School of Engineering, Design and Technology, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, United Kingdom, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom, Department of Ophthalmology, St James’ University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF, United Kingdom, School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom

    When a drop of liquid is placed on the surface of a softmaterial, the surface deformation and the rate of spreading of the triplecontact point is dependent on the mechanical properties of thesubstrate. This study seeks to use drop spreading behavior to infer themechanical properties of soft biological materials. As an illustration ofthe value of this technique we have compared the spreading behavior ofa liquid droplet on two viscoelastic, soft materials, namely, an elastomerand a low concentration agar gel. The ratio of the mechanicalproperties of these soft materials obtained in this way is confirmed byatomic force microscopy (AFM) nanoindentation. By comparing thespreading behavior of a liquid on the retina with that of the same liquidon each of two viscoelastic materials, we can then estimate the elasticmoduli of the retina: an estimate that is extremely difficult to carry outusing AFM.