The study aimed to investigate the effects of silk fibroin in a mouse model of dry eye. The experimental dry eye mouse model was developed using more than twelve-weeks-old NOD.B10.H2b mice exposing them to 30-40% ambient humidity and injecting them with scopolamine hydrobromide for 10 days. Tear production and corneal irregularity score were measured by the instillation of phosphate buffered sa...

Surrogate markers of diabetic neuropathy are being actively sought to facilitate the diagnosis, measure the progression, and assess the benefits of therapeutic intervention in patients with diabetic neuropathy. We have quantified small nerve fiber pathological changes using the technique of intraepidermal nerve fiber (IENF) assessment and the novel in vivo technique of corneal confocal microsco...

PURPOSE To describe the clinical and pathologic characteristics of a family with a congenital stromal dystrophy of the cornea and to identify the genetic basis for this disorder. METHODS All family members in three generations underwent ophthalmic examination. Stored corneal buttons were examined by transmission electron microscopy. Molecular genetic studies, including a genome-wide scan with...

Semifluorinated alkanes (SFA, e.g. perfluorobutylpentane F4H5, perfluorohexyloctane F6H8) are inert, non-toxic fluids capable of dissolving lipophilic drugs. The aim of this study to assess the bioavailability and safety of SFAs as drug solvents for the topical ocular application of Cyclosporin A (CsA). A commercially available CsA formulation (Restasis, 0.05% CsA in castor oil) was tested agai...

Following injury, corneal stromal keratocytes transform into repair-phenotype of activated stromal fibroblasts (SFs) and participate in wound repair. Simultaneously, ongoing bi-directional communications between corneal stromal-epithelial cells also play a vital role in mediating the process of wound healing. Factors produced by stromal cells are known to induce proliferation, differentiation, ...

Purpose To screen for and characterize compounds that protect corneal endothelial cells against unfolded protein response (UPR) and oxidative stress. Methods Bovine corneal endothelial cells (BCECs) were treated for 48 hours with 640 compounds from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug library and then challenged with thapsigargin or H2O2 to induce UPR or oxidative stress, respec...

PURPOSE Human Wharton's jelly stem cells (HWJSCs) are able to differentiate into skin and oral mucosa epithelial-like cells. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time the capability of HWJSCs to differentiate in vitro into cornea epithelial-like cells in a three-dimensional model. METHODS First, primary cell cultures of HWJSCs, corneal epithelial cells, and corneal keratocytes were cult...

Two-dimensional electrophoretic maps of extracts from eleven normal and eleven keratoconus corneas were compared. Of the eleven corneas analyzed, eight were pooled and the remaining three were analyzed individually. Several differences were demonstrated between electrophoretic patterns of normal and keratoconus corneas. In keratoconus corneas, 1) two abnormal components (MW 54kD and 26kD) were ...