[Electrophysiological specification of trabecular meshwork by dielectric dispersion method]

In an attempt to observe the dielectric behavior of the trabecular meshwork and to estimate its pumping of aqueous humor quantitatively, we measured tissue impedance of the anterior portion of 22 enucleated eyeballs from 11 rabbits non-invasively with a minute coaxial surface probe. Serial measurements of five points near the limbus revealed a significant decrease of the peak value (p < 0.05, paired t-test) on loss tangent function at a point 0.5 mm from the limbus towards the sclera. We considered that the decrease in the peak value at the point was due to broadening of the dielectric dispersion reflecting the microstructure of trabecular meshwork beneath the point. After removing the corneal epithelium, the limbal epithelium, and the conjunctiva, we also observed a decrease in the peak value at the same point, which reinforced our assumption that we can identify the trabecular meshwork electrophysiologically by means of dielectric dispersion.