Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of topically applied teprenone,an HSP inducer, on epithelialization of rat cornea after alkali burn. Methods: Epithelial defect was made after anesthesia with inhalation and eye drops in the center of rat cornea using 2mm circular filter paper disks soaked in 1N NaOH. Teprenone eye drops were instilled before and after the alkali damage. dl-Éø-tocopherol was applied in a same manner to serve as control. Time course of circular epithelial defect was photographed at every 6 hours and measurment was performed by image capture and analysis system with NIH image software. Results: In teprenone treated eyes, the area of epithelial defect was not significantly different at 6 hours after the alkali damage, however, the area was significantly smaller at 12,18 hours compared those of dl-Éø-tocopherol treated eyes(p<0.01). After 24 hours, both control and teprenone treated eyes had no epithelial defect. Conclusions: These results suggested that topically applied teprenone, an HSP inducer, may accelerate the corneal epithelial wound healing after alkali damage. Teprenone eye drops could be a candidate for treatment of some corneal epithelial damage or diseases.
Keywords: cornea: epithelium • wound healing