Morphologies of moving amoebae are categorized into two types. One is the "neutrophil" type in which the long axis of cell roughly coincides with its moving direction. This type of cell extends a leading edge at the front and retracts a narrow tail at the rear, whose shape has been often drawn as a typical amoeba in textbooks. The other one is the "keratocyte" type with widespread lamellipodia ...

To investigate the mechanism of superficial stromal scarring in advanced keratoconus using confocal microscopy, the keratocyte density, distribution, micromorphology of corneal stroma, and SNP in three groups were observed. Eight corneal buttons of advanced keratoconus were examined by immunohistochemistry. The keratocyte densities in the sub-Bowman's stroma, anterior stroma, and posterior stro...

Acetylcholine (ACh), a classical neurotransmitter, has been shown to be present in various non-neuronal cells, including cells of the eye, such as corneal epithelium and endothelium, and to have widespread physiological effects such as cytoskeleton reorganization, cellular proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ACh on corneal kerato...

PURPOSE All-trans retinoic acid (RA) supplementation was investigated as a method of enhancing the differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) to corneal keratocytes in vitro, in combination with a chemically defined serum-free medium. METHODS Adipose-derived stem cells were cultured in monolayer and supplemented with 0.1, 1, or 10 μM RA for 14 days. The effects of RA on cell p...

PURPOSE To compare changes in corneal nerve fibers and keratocyte density by confocal microscopy after laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK). DESIGN Prospective, nonrandomized comparative clinical trial. METHODS Fifty-six eyes of 28 patients who underwent LASIK and 52 eyes of 26 patients who underwent LASEK were included. Confocal microsco...

The avascular cornea is a uniquely-isolated organ, with its stroma constituting a nutrient-poor environment. Consequently, the availability of metabolites such as glucose to corneal stromal cells is considerably reduced compared with other tissues, or indeed with media commonly used to culture these cells in vitro. However, the role of glucose in the behaviour of human corneal keratocytes has b...

BACKGROUND Keratocytes are specialised, rapidly moving cells that generate substantial contractile force perpendicular to their direction of locomotion. Potential roles for contractile force in cell motility include cell-body transport, regulation of adhesion, and retraction of the cell's trailing edge. RESULTS To investigate contact dynamics, we used simultaneous confocal fluorescence and in...

The cytotoxic pattern of cosmetic or pharmaceutical compounds within different layers of the human cornea is of special interest with respect to ocular safety testing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of a newly developed human corneal keratocyte (HCK) cell line as an in vitro model to predict toxicity towards keratocytes in the corneal stroma. The cytotoxic response of immorta...

Unconventional myosins interact with the dense cortical actin network during processes such as membrane trafficking, cell migration, and mechanotransduction. Our understanding of unconventional myosin function is derived largely from assays that examine the interaction of a single myosin with a single actin filament. In this study, we have developed a model system to study the interaction betwe...