Unilateral corneal nerve cutting induces bilateral dry eye disease in a murine model.

Abstract

Purpose : To investigate the effect of the severing of corneal basal nerve plexus in one eye on bilateral dry eye disease in a murine model.

Methods : 6 week-old female BALB/c mice were divided into control (n=30) and nerve-cutting (NC) groups (n=30). The left cornea was partially incised with a 2.0mm circular trephine, through the upper two-thirds of the cornea stromal layer. Lissamine green corneal staining and tear volume measurements were performed every week for 4 weeks. At 2 and 4 weeks, dendritic cells, CD4+/CD8+ T cells, regulatory T cells in cervical lymph nodes, conjunctivocornea and spleens were analyzed by flow cytometry. With real-time RT-PCR, neuropeptides were also analyzed in intra-orbital lacrimal glands at 2 weeks.

Results : In bilateral eyes of mice in NC group, corneal staining grades were increased and tear volumes were decreased. CD11c+CD86hi, CD11c+MHCIIhi cells in conjunctivocornea were increased in trephined eyes at 2 weeks and in contralateral eyes at 4 weeks. CD69 were highly expressed in CD4+/CD8+ T cells in conjunctivocornea of trephined eyes at 4 weeks. CD8+IFNγ+ T cells were increased in contralateral cervical lymph nodes in NC group. Meanwhile, regulatory T cells in spleens were significantly suppressed in NC group. In addition, neuropeptide Y and neutrin were increased in intra-orbital lacrimal glands in NC group.

Conclusions : It suggests that unilateral corneal nerve cutting may induce bilateral dry eye disease by entering activated dendritic cells into the bilateral eyes with a disturbance of immune privilege.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.