Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate the effect of artificial tears based on an extract of Artemia salina, a brine shrimp containing high concentrations of dinucleotides, in a rabbit dry eye model.
Methods :
An experimental, prospective, and randomized study was carried out on 20 New Zealand white rabbits divided into 4 different groups (n = 5, each group): healthy rabbits, dry eye rabbits, dry eye rabbits treated with hypromellose, and dry eye rabbits treated with Artemia salina. The dry eye model was induced by the topical instillation of 0.2% benzalkonium chloride. Measurements of tear film quality and damage and inflammation of the ocular surface were performed before and after the topical instillation of the different treatments for 5 consecutive days.
Results :
Compared with the dry eye rabbits non treated and treated with hypromellose, the treatment with the artificial tears based on Artemia salina manifested beneficial effects on tears secretion (increased 64.38 ± 18.41%), tear break-up time, corneal staining, density of Goblet cells, height of mucin cloud secreted by Goblet cells, and mRNA levels of IL-1β y MMP9 in conjunctival cells (P < 0.05).
Conclusions :
The topical instillation of artificial tears based on an extract of Artemia salina was confirmed as a potential secretagogue agent for dry eye treatment, which opened the door for future studies to extrapolate the current findings to dry eye patients.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.