PURPOSE Adhesion molecules play a critical role in leukocyte emigration to wound sites, but differences are evident in different vascular beds. In this study, the contributions of P-selectin to neutrophil emigration into the cornea after central epithelial abrasion were investigated. METHODS Re-epithelialization, neutrophil influx, and platelet accumulation were assessed in C57BL/6 mice after...

The authors studied the distribution of specific keratins within the superior, inferior, medial, and lateral regions of human limbus and cornea to determine whether the limbal epithelium exhibits regional heterogeneity in its microstructure. A corneal epithelial basic keratin (K3), recognized by monoclonal antibody AE5, was immunohistochemically undetectable in the basal layers of the limbus in...

BACKGROUND Concerns regarding the safety of cosmetically tinted contact lenses have been reported in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the safety of cosmetically tinted contact lenses in a large number of patients across six clinical trials that varied from 1 week to 3 months in duration. METHODS LENSES TESTED INCLUDED: Naturelle limbal ring daily disposable, Lacelle li...

INTRODUCTION Chemical burns of the eyes are one of the important causes of visual disability. Chemical burns particularly alkali burn may lead to gross limbal stem cell deficiency. Amniotic membrane transplantation with limbal graft is a good method for ocular surface reconstruction. CASE A 39 years male presented to Biratnagar Eye Hospital after 5 months of chemical injury with redness, pain...

PURPOSE To establish the sequence of tomographic changes in the tissue recovery process after pterygium excision and to propose healing indicators. METHODS Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images were taken at 1 week, 1, 3 and 6 months after lesion excision in 73 eyes of 73 patients (33 male, 40 female; mean age 50, S.D. 5.0, range 40-70 years) with primary nasal pterygium. Biomicroscopy wa...

We aimed to test previous predictions that limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs) are quantitatively deficient or qualitatively defective in Pax6(+/-) mice and decline with age in wild-type (WT) mice. Consistent with previous studies, corneal epithelial stripe patterns coarsened with age in WT mosaics. Mosaic patterns were also coarser in Pax6(+/-) mosaics than WT at 15 weeks but not at 3 weeks, ...

PURPOSE Stem cell (SC)-containing limbal basal epithelium and transient amplifying cell (TAC)-containing corneal basal epithelium lie on different mesenchymal matrices. The gap junction protein connexin 43 (Cx43) is absent in the limbal basal epithelium but is present in the corneal basal epithelium, suggesting that the expression of Cx43 denotes SC differentiation into TACs. Amniotic membrane ...

1. Function and structure of the cornea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Corneal development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3. The stroma and endothelium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Cultivated limbal stem cell transplantation is being used as a current treatment modality for limbal stem cell deficiency. However, use of allogenic biological material as substrate is associated with risks of transmission of certain diseases and allograft rejection. Therefore development of non-toxic biodegradable synthetic polymers is important. We undertook this study...