It has been shown that there exists significance dependence between hydration and biomechanical properties of hydrated tissues such as cornea. The primary purpose of this study was to determine hydration effects on mechanical properties of sclera. Scleral strips, dissected from the posterior part of pig eyes along the superior-inferior direction, were divided into four hydration groups by first drying them and then soaking them in PBS until their hydration reached to 75%, 100%, 150%, and 200%. The strips were subjected to ten consecutive cycles of loading and unloading up to 1 MPa. The response of samples at the tenth cycle was used to compute the tangent modulus, maximum strain, and hysteresis as a function of hydration. The experiments were done in oil in order to prevent hydration changes during the mechanical tests. The mechanical response of strips right after dissection, control group, was also measured. In general, significant softening of scleral strips was found with increasing hydration (p < 0.05). The stress-strain response of control group was between those of samples with hydration 150% and 200%. The experimental stress-strain data were successfully represented numerically with an exponential mathematical relation with R² > 0.99. The present study showed that hydration would significantly alter the tensile response of scleral tissue. Thus, the hydration of scleral specimens during mechanical experimental measurements should be carefully controlled.

业已表明，水合作用与诸如角膜的水合组织的生物力学性质之间存在显着的相关性。这项研究的主要目的是确定水合作用对巩膜力学性能的影响。从猪眼后上方切开的巩膜条被分成四个水合组，首先干燥它们，然后将它们浸泡在PBS中直至其水合达到75％，100％，150％和200 ％。所述条带经受高达1MPa的十个连续的加载和卸载循环。样品在第十个循环中的响应被用来计算切线模量，最大应变和滞后性，作为水合作用的函数。为了防止机械测试期间的水化变化，在油中进行了实验。还测量了剥离后即作为对照组的试纸条的机械反应。通常，随着水合作用的增加，巩膜条明显软化（p <0.05）。对照组的应力应变响应介于水合度为150％和200％的样品之间。实验应力-应变数据已成功地用与R呈指数数学关系的数值表示²  > 0.99。本研究表明，水合作用将显着改变巩膜组织的拉伸反应。因此，在机械实验测量过程中，巩膜标本的水合作用应谨慎控制。