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. 2009 Oct;89(4):597-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2009.06.003. Epub 2009 Jun 11.

Early keratocyte apoptosis after epithelial scrape injury in the human cornea

Renato Ambrósio Jr, Newton Kara-José, Steven E Wilson

Early keratocyte apoptosis after epithelial scrape injury in the human cornea

Renato Ambrósio Jr et al. Exp Eye Res. 2009 Oct.

Abstract

Animal studies in mice, rats, rabbits, pigs and hens demonstrated that anterior keratocytes undergo programmed cell death or apoptosis after corneal epithelial injury. Many other wound healing changes subsequently follow the keratocyte apoptosis response. This study evaluated early keratocyte apoptosis after corneal epithelial scrape injury in human eyes scheduled for enucleation for malignancy. Two eyes had corneal epithelial scrape 1 h prior to the enucleation and another eye served as a control and had no corneal scrape prior to enucleation. One additional eye was enucleated, washed with balanced salt solution, and then had the corneal epithelium scraped 1 h prior to processing for analysis. Apoptosis was identified by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay and confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Anterior keratocyte apoptosis was detected in the three corneas that had epithelial scrape injury, but not in the control unwounded cornea. This study confirmed that keratocyte apoptosis is also an early response to corneal epithelial injury in humans and showed that tears are not essential for keratocyte apoptosis to occur in response to epithelial injury.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A. Keratocyte apoptosis detected in human corneas one hour after epithelial scrape injury prior to enucleation for a choroidal melanoma. TUNEL-positive keratocytes are detected (arrows) in the anterior stroma beneath Bowman’s layer (arrowheads). Magnification 400X. B. Transmission electron microscopy in a human cornea one hour after enucleation, washing with balanced salt solution, and epithelial scrape with a scalpel. Note condensation of the chromatin in the nucleus (n), cell shrinkage and formation of apoptotic bodies (arrows). Magnification 7,500X.
Figure 1
Figure 1
A. Keratocyte apoptosis detected in human corneas one hour after epithelial scrape injury prior to enucleation for a choroidal melanoma. TUNEL-positive keratocytes are detected (arrows) in the anterior stroma beneath Bowman’s layer (arrowheads). Magnification 400X. B. Transmission electron microscopy in a human cornea one hour after enucleation, washing with balanced salt solution, and epithelial scrape with a scalpel. Note condensation of the chromatin in the nucleus (n), cell shrinkage and formation of apoptotic bodies (arrows). Magnification 7,500X.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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