rich with LAF, identified as a macrophage product. However, different mononuclear cell subpopulations might be responsible for the higher production of LAF and KAF under similar conditions. This possibility is under investigation, with the use of purified populations of lymphocytes or macrophages obtained from human peripheral blood. The conditions that affect corneal wound healing at the molec...

Corneal diseases such as keratoconus represent a relatively common disorder in the human population. However, treatment is restricted to corneal transplantation, which only occurs in the most advanced cases. Cell based therapies may offer an alternative approach given that the eye is amenable to such treatments and corneal diseases like keratoconus have been associated specifically with the dea...

Directed cell motility is preceded by cell polarization-development of a front-rear asymmetry of the cytoskeleton and the cell shape. Extensive studies implicated complex spatial-temporal feedbacks between multiple signaling pathways in establishing cell polarity, yet physical mechanisms of this phenomenon remain elusive. Based on observations of lamellipodial fragments of fish keratocyte cells...

PURPOSE Dichlorotriazinyl aminofluorescein (DTAF) has been used to stain corneal stromal collagen as part of in vivo experimentation. Toxicity of this drug, if present, might alter the observed wound healing. To determine if this drug has any deleterious effect on keratocytes, we evaluated it in vitro. METHODS Human keratocytes in 96 well plates were exposed to different concentrations of DTA...

Patterns of herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) infection were studied in BALB/c congenic, Igh-1 disparate murine strains to establish the influence of Igh-1 phenotype on the development of keratopathy, trigeminal ganglionic latency and keratocyte permissivity. Eighty-two percent of C.AL-20 (Igh-1d) mice, 40% of BALB/cByJ (Igh-1a) mice and 12% of the C.B-17 (Igh-1b) mice developed herpes simple...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to quantify epithelial, stromal, and endothelial cell density, and subbasal nerve morphology in young patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus with and without diabetic retinopathy. METHODS A total of 28 young patients (mean age, 22.86 ± 9.05 years) with type 1 diabetes, with (n = 18) and without (n = 10) retinopathy, and 17 age-matched healthy control subjects...

PURPOSE To evaluate the healing characteristics of cat corneas treated with a new scanning mid-infrared laser system. METHODS Six adult cats were treated with 6-mm diameter photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) corrections. One eye in each animal was untreated as a control and the other was treated with either a -3.00 or -6.00 diopter ablation. The laser was a new Nd:YAG pumped optical parametric...

The molecular motor myosin teams up to drive muscle contraction, membrane traffic, and cell division in biological cells. Myosin function in cells emerges from the interaction of multiple motors tethered to a scaffold, with surrounding actin filaments organized into 3D networks. Despite the importance of myosin function, the influence of intermotor interactions on collective motion remains poor...

AIMS To examine histopathological and immunohistochemical changes in lenticules and host of corneal buttons from patients who previously underwent epikeratoplasty for keratoconus. METHODS 12 penetrating keratoplasty specimens from patients with keratoconus who had previously undergone epikeratoplasty, eight keratoconus, and seven normal corneas were examined. Immunostaining for Sp1, alpha1-pr...