Abstract
Purpose :
Previous reports showed essential roles of lymphatic vessels for the drainage of aqueous humor and maintenance of the intraocular pressure. We showed disruptions of lymphatic flow in the bleb region in mouse filtration surgery models immediately after surgery (2016 ARVO). To clarify the repair process of lymphatic flow after filtration surgery, we observed bleb healing for extended period.
Methods :
Using BALB/c-wild-type mouse, filtration surgery model was made as previously reported (ARVO 2016). The conjunctival tissue was sampled after the surgery and analyzed by wholemount immunohistochemical staining using anti-mouse LYVE-1 antibody. The expression of genes related to conjunctival fibrosis (Col1a1, Fn1, Tnc) was also quantified by realtime PCR. To evaluate possible roles of extracellular matrix deposition for the repair process of lymphatic flow, filtration surgery was performed using BALB/c-tenascin-C (TNC) knockout (KO)mouse.
Results :
The lymphatic vessels at the bleb region were disrupted and did not recover to preoperative state (2weeks, 4weeks, 8weeks after surgery). Upregulation of conjunctival fibrosis related genes were observed in the bleb region (Col1a1: 2.7 fold, Fn1 5.5 fold, Tnc 4.2 fold). Intense TNC positive staining was observed in the filtering bleb 7days to 14 days after the surgery. No definite alterations of lymphatic vessel repair were observed between TNKO mice and wild-type mice.
Conclusions :
Our results suggested that in mouse model of the filtration surgery, the lymphatic flow do not recover to the preoperative state.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.