Abstract
Purpose: :
Describe ocular pathology and compare corneal wound healing in Wild Type (WT) (Pax6+/+) and Small eye (Sey) (Pax 6+/-) mice.
Methods: :
WT (n=84) and Sey (n=40) mice (age 2-3 months) were examined using biomicroscopy. Corneal wounding was performed by applying an n-heptanol saturated disk to OS for 60 seconds. Mice were evaluated on days 1, 2, 3 (if fluorescein positive on day 2), 4, 7, 14, and 28 post wounding. Each day, 3-5 mice were euthanized. Eyes were enucleated and placed in 4% paraformaldehyde. Immunohistochemistry (p63, sVEGFR-1) was performed. Days to negative fluorescein staining were compared using the Chi-Square test. The number of p63 staining basal cells was recorded and statistically evaluated by ANOVA. Staining for sVEGFR1 was recorded as positive or negative.
Results: :
Anterior segments in all WT mice were normal. Pathology in Sey mice included corneal opacity (n=35), corneal vascularization (n=20), iris hypoplasia (n=36), and anterior cortical cataract (n=27). Application of n-heptanol resulted in removal of corneal epithelium in all mice. There was no significant difference in the amount of cornea wounded in WT and Sey mice (p>0.05). There was a statistically significant delay in corneal wound healing in Sey mice at days 2 and 3 when compared to WT mice (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in p63 staining (p>0.05). All mice exhibited comparable sVEGFR1 staining.
Conclusions: :
The corneal healing delay in Sey mice does not appear to be due to a deficiency in p63 cellular expression. The comparable expression of sVEGFR1 suggests that it alone is likely not responsible for the corneal vascularization present in Sey mice.
Keywords: cornea: basic science • wound healing