Ultrasound biomicroscopy of the anterior segment of the enucleated chicken eye during accommodation

Ultrasound biomicroscopy produces real-time two-dimensional images of ocular structures measured non-invasively. Given recent work which shows that lenses from myopic eyes show shorter focal lengths and reduced accommodative amplitudes compared with controls, this study was undertaken to determine the structural characteristics of the anterior segment of chicken eyes during accommodation using the ultrasound biomicroscope (UBM). Form-deprivation myopia and hyperopia were induced in hatching chicks by the application of either translucent or +15 D defocus goggles. After 7 days, eyes were enucleated and ultrasound biomicrographs of the eye, at rest and during ciliary nerve-stimulated accommodation, were collected. For all eyes, accommodation was associated with a decrease in anterior chamber depth, an increase in lenticular thickness and a steepening of the front lenticular surface curvature. Changes related to refractive error were more difficult to detect. Myopic eyes showed deeper anterior chamber depths and differences in lenticular thicknesses just above the resolution limit for detection. In +15 D lens-treated eyes, anterior chamber differences were opposite but smaller, just at the limit of resolution, while differences in mean lenticular thickness were not resolvable at a pixel or above. The UBM is a good tool for measuring robust changes during accommodation, but is limited in its ability to detect subtle changes associated with experimentally induced ametropias.