Abstract
Purpose: :
Due to its unique characteristics, the cornea has been widely used for vascular research. However, it has never been studied whether lymphatic vessels in the conjunctiva, its neighboring tissue, are affected by corneal lymphangiogenesis (LG). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the distribution pattern of conjunctival lymphatic vessels changes during corneal LG.
Methods: :
Our standard two suture placement model was used to induce corneal inflammation. Fourteen days later, oriented flat-mount corneas together with peri-limbal bulbar conjunctivae were collected for immunofluorescent microscopic studies. Lymphatic vessels under both normal and inflamed conditions were analyzed and quantified by NIH Image J software to compare their distributions.
Results: :
Our data demonstrate for the first time that conjunctival lymphatic vessels were more distributed in the nasal side under both normal and inflamed conditions. Additionally, under the inflamed condition, conjunctival lymphatic vessels showed a higher density and more branching points, indicating that LG occurs in the conjunctiva in response to corneal inflammation.
Conclusions: :
This study not only provides novel insights into lymphatic reponses in the ocular surface, but also offers new guidelines for developing therapeutic strategies to treat lymphatic diseases at related sites.
Keywords: conjunctiva • cornea: basic science • neovascularization