The Corneal limbus is a readily accessible region at the front of the eye, separating the cornea and sclera. Neural colonies (neurospheres) can be generated from adult corneal limbus in vitro. We have previously shown that these neurospheres originate from neural crest stem/progenitor cells and that they can differentiate into functional neurons in vitro. The aim of this study was to investigat...

This study investigated changes in collagen fibril architecture and the sulphation status of keratan sulphate (KS) glycosaminoglycan (GAG) epitopes from central to peripheral corneal regions. Freshly excised adult bovine corneal tissue was examined as a function of radial position from the centre of the cornea outwards. Corneal thickness, tissue hydration, hydroxyproline content, and the total ...

Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) has been recently identified as the major physiological ligand for the tyrosine kinase receptor Tie2 and assigned responsibility for recruiting and sustaining periendothelial support cells. Angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) was found to disrupt blood vessel formation in the developing embryo by antagonizing the effects of Ang1 and Tie2 and was thus considered to represent a natural An...

Findings in nodular iritis of the leprous eye on examination by the slit-lamp microscope were first reported by Peter in 1924. Since then Pillat, Boshoff (1), Kennedy (5), and others have reported on the changes in the leprous eye observed by the same means. Vale (11) in particular has pointed out the importance of the capillary network in the limbus corneae; and Pillat, and also Elliot (2) hav...

PURPOSE In the epidermis, the highest clonogenicity, a feature of stem cells (SCs), is found in the smallest keratinocyte. In the limbal-corneal (LC) epithelium the SCs are exclusively localized in the basal epithelial layer of the limbal domain. The current study was conducted to determine whether this spatial SC arrangement is reflected in differences in the cell size between limbal and corne...

AIM To describe a surgical technique for autologous limbal stem cell transplantation and the outcome of a series of patients with unilateral stem cell deficiency. METHODS A report of six consecutive patients who underwent autologous limbal stem cell transplantation is presented. The primary diagnosis included alkali burn (n=3), conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (n=1), recurrent pte...

PURPOSE Ras farnesyltransferase inhibitors are known to block the membrane translocalization of oncogenic Ras protein. They inhibit the cytoplasmic mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascade related to Ras protein. Thus far, Ras farnesyltransferase inhibitors have been exclusively regarded with the anticancer drugs. The object of this study was to elucidate the role of Ras farnesyltrans...

Methods.--The injection of rabbits with Pneumococcus or its derivatives was carried out as described in a previous communication (1). Eye Test.--Eye tests were done according to the technique described by Derick and Swift (3, 4). The cornea was anesthetized with one drop of 10 per cent novocaine, and then it was lightly scarified with a cataract knife. Three scratches were made on one of the up...