Abstract
Purpose :
The occurrence of posterior capsule opacification (PCO) is due to the residual lens epithelial cells to infiltrate at the interface between lens capsule (LCs) and IOLs. IOL material adhesiveness is believed to affect cell infiltration and PCO formation. Extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, particularly fibronectin (FN), have been suggested to play an important role in PCO formation. While many studies have examined the interaction of FN with IOLs, the role of adsorbed FN on influencing PCO is yet to be investigated. Using a PCO predictive in vitro model based on IOL:LC adhesive force, we investigated the influence of FN adsorption and IOL surface hydrophilicity on cell infiltration and PCO formation at IOL:LC interface.
Methods :
To mimic cell infiltration at IOL:LC interface, an in vitro model was established with simulated LC and a custom-designed micro-force tester. By adding various amounts of FNs onto the simulated LCs prior to placing commercially available IOLs, including acrylic foldable, PMMA, and silicone IOLs, the influence of FNs on adhesion force between IOLs and LCs was examined. In addition, such influence on cell infiltration at the interface was examined by analyzing the amount of dye infiltration in a macromolecular dye imaging system. Finally, the influence of surface hydrophilicity on IOL:LC adhesive force and cell infiltration was examined using acrylic foldable IOLs coated with hydrophilic polymer- Di(ethylene glycol) (Diglyme).
Results :
We observed that IOLs show different adhesiveness with LCs in the following order: acrylic foldable>silicone>PMMA. FN plays a significant role in increasing the adhesion force of acrylic foldables, but not PMMA & Silicone IOLs. As expected, FN significantly reduced dye penetration at the interface between acrylic foldable IOLs (~50% reduction) and LCs. However, Diglyme coating significantly reduced the IOL:LC adhesive forces while increased dye penetration compared to acrylic foldable controls. The presence of FN had an insignificant influence on the adhesive forces and dye penetration.
Conclusions :
The results support the overall hypothesis that FN adsorption may increase the IOL:LC adhesive force and reduce cell infiltration at the interface (Fig. 1). By increasing surface hydrophilicity, Diglyme coating significantly reduced IOL:LC adhesive force and increase dye infiltration while demolished the influence of FN.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.