Abstract
Purpose :
Human platelet lysate (HPL) has been proven to have abundant epitheliotrophic factors and thus has the potential to replace human peripheral serum (HPS) as corneal epithelial treatment option. We tested the hypothesis that HPL could have similar corneal neurotrophic abilities as HPS and be used as topical eye drop to treat neurotrophic keratopathy.
Methods :
Human neuron cell lines (PC12 and Neuron 2A) were cultivated in two commercialized HPLs, UltraGRO TM (Helios, Atlanta, GA) and PLTMax (Mill Creek, Rochester, MI), and human peripheral serum (HPS). The growth rates of the culticvated cells and the neuronal differentiation abilities (formation of neuronal processes) were compared. We also created New Zealand white rabbit models for corneal nerve injury by corneal epithelial debridement and superficial lamellar keratectomy, and used HPLs and HPS as topical eye drops to improve nerve regeration. Topical artificial tear was used as control. In vivo confocal microscopy and corneal esthesiometer were performed twice a week to follow in vivo nerve regeneration. At 2 months after injury, whole mount immunohistochemical staining with anti-tubulin III and the ELISA study on the expression level of sustance P in the corneas were used to evaluate the postoperative nerve regeneration.
Results :
In vitro experiments on cell migration, proliferation and differentiation in neuron cell lines demonstrated no significant difference among the two HPLs and HPS (p>0.05). In animal models, the blood derivatives also demonstrated similar effects on corneal nerve regeneration when evaluated by in vivo confocal microscopy and corneal esthesiometer (p>0.05). At 2 months after injury, whole mount immunohistochemical staining with anti-tubulin III found that HPLs might produce greater improvement in postoperative neuron growth compared to the HPS group but the result was not statistically significant (p>0.05). There was no significant differences of substance P expression in the cornea among the two HPL groups and the HPS group. However, the in vivo result showed that HPS and HPLs have significaly greater ability to promote nerve regereration and the exprsesion of substance P compared to the control gorup.
Conclusions :
HPL showed similar corneal neurotrophic abilities compared to HPS during in vitro and in vivo studies. Results suggest that HPL may be as effective as HPS in the treatment of neurotrophic keratopathy.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.