Abstract
Purpose :
Hyaluronic acid, a ubiquitously expressed polysaccharide, is of great interest in the bioengineering and regenerative medicine communities for use as an off-the-shelf biomaterial. Topical cross-linked carboxymethylated hyaluronic acid (CMHA-S) has been shown to facilitate the repair and regeneration of corneal injuries and chemical burns. Our purpose was to test the hypothesis that CMHA-S gel drops can be utilized to facilitate re-epithelialization of the corneal epithelium in corneal chemical burn injuries.
Methods :
Burns 5.5 mm in diameter were created on 20 anesthetized, male New Zealand White rabbits by placing a circular filter paper soaked in 1N NaOH onto the central cornea for 30 seconds. Wounds were immediately rinsed with sterile buffered saline and evaluated using fluorescein staining and white light imaging. Animals were randomly grouped (n=5 per group) for no treatment or treatment with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) drops as a control 4X daily or with CMHA-S gel drops (SentrX Animal Care Remend® Corneal Repair Gel) 4X or 2X daily for 14 days. An additional 5 animals were left unwounded and treated with CMHA-S drops 4X daily for 14 days as a control group. At days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 post chemical burn creation, eyes were evaluated by white light imaging and fluorescein staining. Corneal histology was performed using H&E and Masson’s Trichrome stain.
Results :
CHMA-S drops were biocompatible and did not lead to any clinical or histological pathology in uninjured eyes when treated 4X daily. CMHA-S gel treatment at 2X and 4X daily facilitated the healing of the corneal chemical burns 3 and 7 days post wounding when compared to control and non-treated corneal chemical wounds. Corneal burns treated with CMHA-S gel drops 2X and 4X daily were completely healed on day 3 and showed smaller epithelial defects on day 7 when compared to controls. There were no significant differences in the overall size or quality of the corneal scar 30 days post wounding between the treatment and control groups.
Conclusions :
CMHA-S gel drops are biocompatible and may be utilized clinically to facilitate corneal epithelial wound closure in corneal chemical burn injuries.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.