As described in Methods, in the enzymatic vitreolysis experiments, oscillatory frequency sweeps were followed by uniaxial extension (
Fig. 5A). We simplified this analysis to a constant loading rate (250 μm/s), and quantified adhesive force (
FA ), axial stretch length at first detachment (
LD ), and change in length during detachment (Δ
LD ) during vitreous extension (
Fig. 5B). These experiments were characterized by two types of material behavior. In the first mode, the vitreous gradually sloughed from the upper plate with little normal (adhesive) force generation (
Fig. 5B, blue), whereas the second mode was characterized by significant axial stretch, an increase in adhesive force, and sudden release (
Fig. 5B, red). Data analysis confirmed bimodal behavior, as
LD clustered at 1.4 ± 1.0 mm and 11.9 ± 2.1 mm (blue and red dots, respectively;
Fig. 5C), with significantly greater adhesion force in the latter cluster (
P < 0.05;
Fig. 5C). Collagenase and trypsin treatment always resulted in the first mode (
n = 14/14), which also predominately occurred in controls (
n = 5/7;
Fig. 5C′). Hyaluronidase exposure more frequently resulted in the second mode (
n = 4/8), which also occurred after treatment with collagenase plus hyaluronidase (
n = 1/4;
Fig. 5C′). These data suggested that enzymatic vitreolysis could alter the intrinsic adhesivity and fundamental material behavior (gradual sloughing versus stretch and snap) of the vitreous body in extension. To provide further insight into these results, we performed pairwise comparisons between the four normally distributed parameters determined from oscillatory (
G′, tan
δ) and extensional testing (
FA , Δ
LD ;
Fig. 6).