Abstract
Purpose :
To determined in mice if loss of lumican affect the process of the wound healing response to the incision-injured corneal stroma. Lumican is the family of small leucine-rich proteoglycan.
Methods :
Lumican-null (KO) mice (n =31) or C57BL/6J (WT) mice (n = 31) were used. A full-thickness penetrating incision injury (1.8 mm in length) was produced in the central cornea by using a micro surgical knife under general anesthesia. The injury was not sutured. On day 5 post-injury the eyes were processed for histology, immunohistochemistry. The degree of wound healing was examined based on the distance between each corneal stromal cutting edge in sections. Another sets of samples at day 3 were processed for RNA extraction and for real-time RT-PCR.
Results :
Healing of incision injury in corneal stroma was delayed in KO as observed at day 5. Immunohistochemical examination showed less population of α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA)-positive myofibroblasts. Loss of lumican suppressed mRNA expression of αSMA. Macrophage infiltration as evaluated by F4/80 mRNA expression was promoted in KO. There was no significant difference in the expression level of collagen 1a1 between WT and KO tissues.
Conclusions :
Lumican signal is involved in the formation of myofibroblasts and in healing of an incision injury in a mouse cornea.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.