Artificial Vitreous Humor for In Vitro Experiments

In this paper we present a protocol to create artificial vitreous humor phantom tissue to be used as a test bed for in vitro experiments. The artificial vitreous consists of water, agar, and hyaluronic acid. Unlike existing vitreous replacement substances, this dummy tissue exhibits viscoelastic characteristics of in vivo natural vitreous humor. We are able to prepare artificial vitreous with a range of viscoelastic properties, which will allow us to account for the variation seen in human vitreous that comes with aging. The artificial vitreous will primarily serve as an experimental test bed for wireless magnetic control and vision-based tracking of assembled-MEMS microrobots. These microrobots will someday enable minimally invasive surgical and diagnostic intraocular procedures.