Abstract
Purpose :
To assess clinical and biomolecular changes at ocular surface in volunteers who consider themselves healthy, in order to better understand the InflammAging, thus the failure of active self-limiting para-inflammation with age.
Methods :
In this observational prospective cohort study, volunteers were categorized into 3 groups according to age: young (19-40 years), middle-aged (41-60 years) and older (61-93 years). Clinical assessments included tear breakup time (T-BUT) and Schirmer test type I. Dry eye symptoms were evaluated by the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire. Conjunctival mRNA and protein expression of ICAM-1, MUC5AC and IL-8 were examined by real-time PCR and immunofluorescence.
Results :
: A total of 82 volunteers (38 male and 44 female) were enrolled. T-BUT decreased significantly with increased age (young: 11.13 ± 0.18 sec; middle-aged: 10.83 ± 0.56 sec; older: 9.00 ± 1.00 sec, p<0.05). Schirmer test values decreased significantly with age (young: 20.6 ± 1.0 mm; middle-aged 19.2 ± 1.2 mm; older: 16.0 ± 1.1 mm, p<0.05; Fig.1B). OSDI scores increased with age in both groups, but were substantially higher in women relative to men. Conjunctival expression of inflammatory markers ICAM-1, IL-8 and MUC5AC increased with age.
Conclusions :
Age-related increase in clinical signs, symptoms and biomarkers of chronic inflammation were detected in a population of volunteers who consider themselves healthy, describing an age-related progressive impairment of ocular surface system function
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.