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Micro-optical coherence tomography (\u00b5OCT) is a potentially suitable tool to meet this need, owing to its ultrahigh isotropic spatial resolution, high image acquisition rate and depth priority scanning mode. In this study, we explored the ability of \u00b5OCT to visualize micro-anatomical structures of the posterior cornea <jats:italic>ex vivo<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> using small and large animals. \u00b5OCT clearly delineated cornea layers and revealed micro-anatomical structures, including not only polygonal endothelial cells, stellate keratocytes, collagen fibres and corneal nerve fibres but also new structures such as the dome-shaped basolateral side of endothelial cells and lattice structures at the interface between endothelium and Descemet\u2019s membrane. Based on these observations, a short post-harvest longitudinal study was conducted on rat cornea to test the feasibility of using \u00b5OCT to monitor the quality of endothelial cells. This study successfully reveals a series of morphological features and pathological changes in the posterior cornea at the cellular level <jats:italic>in situ<\/jats:italic> and in real time with \u00b5OCT. These findings enrich knowledge of corneal anatomy and suggest that \u00b5OCT may be a promising imaging tool in corneal transplantation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-017-11380-0","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,1]],"date-time":"2017-09-01T08:34:51Z","timestamp":1504254891000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":43,"title":["Visualizing Micro-anatomical Structures of the Posterior Cornea with Micro-optical Coherence Tomography"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Si","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinyu","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nanshuo","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xianghong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiaozhou","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"En","family":"Bo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaojun","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shufen","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6691-9253","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Linbo","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"11380_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"614","DOI":"10.1136\/bjophthalmol-2011-300539","volume":"96","author":"D Pascolini","year":"2012","unstructured":"Pascolini, D. & Mariotti, S. 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