Wound healing of the corneal epithelium: a review

Abstract

The corneal epithelium (CE) forms the outermost layer of the cornea. Despite its thickness of only 50 μm, the CE plays a key role as an initial barrier against any insults to the eye and contributes to the light refraction onto the retina required for clear vision. In the event of an injury, the cornea is equipped with many strategies contributing to competent wound healing, including angiogenic and immune privileges, and mechanotransduction. Various factors, including growth factors, keratin, cytokines, integrins, crystallins, basement membrane, and gap junction proteins are involved in CE wound healing and serve as markers in the healing process. Studies of CE wound healing are advancing rapidly in tandem with the rise of corneal bioengineering, which employs limbal epithelial stem cells as the primary source of cells utilizing various types of biomaterials as substrates.

Keywords: cornea; corneal; epithelium; markers; regeneration; wound healing.

Figure 1

(A) Three main cell types that form the CE. (B) Various growth factors and cytokines are produced in response to injury for the wound healing process. (C) Few markers for nascent regenerating CE and the BM. BM, basement membrane; CE, corneal epithelium.