Abstract
Purpose: :
To compare cryostat sections of UVB irradiated rabbit cornea with corneal impression cytologies and to examine, whether corneal impression cytologies stained for suitable markers of injury are useful for diagnostic purposes.
Methods: :
Cryostat sections of UVB irradiated corneas (daily dose of 0.5 J/cm2 for four days) and impression cytologies (using Millicell membranes) collected from similarly UVB-irradiated rabbit corneas were stained immunohistochemically for peroxynitrite (a marker of oxidative injury detected by nitrotyrosine residui), malondialdehyde (a marker of lipid peroxidation), active caspase-3 (detecting apoptotic cell death) and urokinase type plasminogen activator (showing serine proteases at the corneal surface). Normal (untreated) corneas served as controls.
Results: :
Compared to the normal corneal epithelium where only solely apoptotic cells are present, malondialdehyde and nitrotyrosine stainings are absent and the expression of urokinase-type plasminogen activator is very low, in UVB irradiated corneal epithelium the staining of all markers employed was very high and slowly decreased along with the prolonged time interval after the irradiation. Similar results were obtained using cryostat sections of the cornea and corneal impression cytologies.
Conclusions: :
Immunohistochemical results with cryostat sections corresponded with those obtained using corneal impression cytologies thus confirming that corneal impression cytologies using suitable markers of injury are useful for diagnostic purposes.
Keywords: cornea: epithelium • cornea: basic science • cytology