Comparison of Corneal Endothelial Mosaic According to the Age: The CorImMo 3D Project

AimThe human corneal endothelium is a monolayer of flat hexagonal cells. It is a nearly regular hexagonal tessellation during the first years of life, but with age, becomes less regular in shape and size. The aim is to evaluate geometrically the age of an endothelial mosaic.Material and methodsSegmented endothelial mosaics of healthy subjects of different age groups are compared by morphological criteria. The mosaics are studied according to their age group (decades), their age and their location (center or mid-periphery of the cornea). The measures used are: the cell density, the Ripley's L function and the cell area and perimeter density.ResultsThese measures point out the endothelial cell density decrease, the cell area, perimeter and diameter increase, the cell heterogeneity increase, and the differences between central and mid-peripheral cells increases with age.ConclusionThese measures are able to characterize healthy mosaics.