April 2009
Volume 50, Issue 13
Free
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   April 2009
Impact of Alloimmunity on Corneal Endothelium in Transplantation
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • T. Funaki
    Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • S. K. Chauhan
    Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • M. H. Dastjerdi
    Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • U. Jurkunas
    Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • R. Dana
    Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships  T. Funaki, None; S.K. Chauhan, None; M.H. Dastjerdi, None; U. Jurkunas, None; R. Dana, None.
  • Footnotes
    Support  NEI-EY-RO1-12963 and EY-K24-19098
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science April 2009, Vol.50, 1963. doi:
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      T. Funaki, S. K. Chauhan, M. H. Dastjerdi, U. Jurkunas, R. Dana; Impact of Alloimmunity on Corneal Endothelium in Transplantation. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2009;50(13):1963.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Purpose: : Corneal endothelial cells (CEC) are the principal target of alloimmunity in corneal transplantation. CEC are non-dividing cells, and corneal transparency is dependent on a sufficient number of functional endothelial cells. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the impact of alloimmunity on viability and integrity of endothelial cells after corneal transplantation.

Methods: : BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice were used as recipients and donors for orthotopic corneal transplantation. Naïve C57BL/6 corneal cups were co-cultured with total CD3+ or CD4+ T cells isolated from the draining LN of syngeneic recipients, allograft acceptors and allograft rejectors, and then stained with ZO-1 and TUNEL to visualize the CEC and apoptosis, respectively. Grafted corneas from different transplant groups were harvested and stained with ZO-1 to analyze CEC’s density, polymegathism and pleomorphism using Confoscan4 software (NIDEK CO., LTD, U.S.A).

Results: : T cells isolated from allograft rejectors induced higher apoptosis of CEC compared to those isolated from allograft acceptors in corneal cup assays. Compared to total CD3+ T cells, CD4+ T cells had more potential to induce CEC apoptosis. However, T cells isolated from syngeneic recipients were unable to induce significant apoptosis of CEC. In transplanted corneas, a significant loss of CEC was observed primarily in the graft-area in all types of graft recipients. However, the loss of CEC over time was more progressive in allograft recipients compared to syngeneic recipients. CEC density in rejected-grafts was significantly lower than those in accepted-grafts. CEC were undetectable in rejected-grafts at week 8 post-transplantation. Significantly higher frequencies of CEC with altered morphology including polymegathism and pleomorphism were observed in rejected-grafts compared to those in accepted- and syngeneic-grafts.

Conclusions: : Our findings confirm the crucial role of allogeneic CD4+ T cells in inducing apoptosis of CEC in corneal transplantation. In addition, our data elucidate that the loss of CEC in allografts is followed by a significant alteration in the integrity and morphology of endothelial cells which may affect their functionality.

Keywords: cornea: endothelium • transplantation • immunomodulation/immunoregulation 
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