Objective To review research progress of corneal tissueengineering.Methods The recent articles on corneal tissue engineering focus on source and selection of corneal cells, the effects of growth factors on culture of corneal cells in vitro. The preparation and selection of three-dimensional biomaterial scaffolds and their b and weak points were discussed. Results The corneal tissue engineering cells come from normal human corneal cells. The embryo corneal cell was excellent. Several kinds of growth factors play important roles in culture, growth and proliferation of corneal cell, and incroporated into matrix.Growth factors including basic fibroblast growth factor, keratinocyte growth factor, transforming growth factor β1 and epidermal growth factor was favor to corneal cell. Collagen, chitosan and glycosaninoglycans were chosen as biomaterial scaffolds. Conclusion Human tissue engineering cornea can be reconstructed and transplanted. It has good tissue compatibility and can be used as human corneal equivalents.
Objective To compare the effects of the denudedfreeze-dried-amniotic-membrane and the denuded freeze-dried bovine corneal stroma when they were explanted to repair the corneal defect of rabbits. Methods The amnia from healthy human placentae were prepared with the method reported by LUO Jingcong, which were freeze-dried and sterilized. The bovine cornea was also denuded by typsin, rinsed, freeze-dried, and sterilized. Twenty Japan rabbits weredivided into group A(the amniontic group) and group B(the bovine-corneal-stroma group) at random. The defect was made, which was 7.5 mm in diameter and 1/3 ofthe thickness of the cornea, and the two kinds of materials were explanted to repair the defect. The vascularization and the changes of the operated eye were observed. The samples were taken at 2, 4 and 8 weeks for histologicalexamination. Results The explanted materials were not melted or excluded. There were visible neovessels in both groups, yet there was no significant difference between them. According to the histological observation, there was severe inflammation in both groups 2 weeks after operation, the fibroblasts were proliferated, and the collagen fibers were disorganized; however,the reactions became milder from 4 weeks after operations,andthe neovessles could be seen in groups A and B; at 8 weeks, the collagen fibers were more organized in groups A and B; however,there was still a small area of disorganized fibers left. Conclusion The two materials can lead to rejection to some extent, and so they need to be improved.
Objective To observe the biocompatibility of the acellular corneal stroma materials prepared by three different methods. Methods Three different serial digestion methods were used to produce the acellular corneal stroma materials. The biocompatibility of the materials was investigated by the cell seeding and the materials were implanted into the rabbit corneal stroma layer. Results The cells in the materials 1 and 2 were not decellularized completely. The rabbit corneal fibroblasts died on the materials 1 and 2 after the cell seeding for 3-4 days. An obvious rejection could be observed after the implantation. The cells in material 3 were decellularized completely and the collagen fibers or elastic fibers were reserved integrally，showing a typical three-dimensional net work. The rabbit corneal fibroblasts could expand on the materials in vitro. No obvious rejection could be observed and the materials were gradually absorbed. Conclusion The acellular porcine cornea stroma materials prepared by trypsin-Dnase-Rnase are suitable for reconstruction of the tissue engineered cornea.
Objective To evaluate the relative factors of effect of vitrectomy on corneal endothelial cells. Methods Retrospective analysis of the results of corneal endothelium microscopy performed on 213 eyes of 213 patients undergone vetrectomy operations including single vitrectomy (78 eyes), vitrectomy combined with cataract extraction (135 eyes), silicone oil injection (34 eyes), and C3F8 injection (53 eyes) before and after 1 week, 1 and 3 moths of these surgical procedures. Results There was no significant difference between pre- and postoperative corneal endothelium density in single vitrectomy group and vitrectomy combined with cataract extraction with posterior capsule integrity group (Pgt;0.05). The corneal endothelium density significantly decreased postoperatively in C3F8or silicone oil injection group with broken posterior capsule (Plt;0.05). Conclusion C3F8 and silicone oil may damnify corneal endothelium in patients undergo vitrectom y combined with cataract extraction with broken posterior capsule. (Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis，2004，20：101-103)
The decrease of corneal stiffness is the key factor leading to keratoconus, and the corneal collagen fiber stiffness and fiber dispersion are closely related to the corneal biomechanical properties. In this paper, a finite element model of human cornea based on corneal microstructure, namely collagen fiber, was established before and after laser assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). By simulating the Corvis ST process and comparing with the actual clinical results, the hyperelastic constitutive parameters and corneal collagen fiber stiffness modulus of the corneal material were determined before and after refractive surgery. After LASIK, the corneal collagen fiber stiffness modulus increased significantly, and was highly correlated with central corneal thickness (CCT). The predictive relationship between the corneal collagen fiber stiffness modulus and the corresponding CCT before and after surgery was: k1 before = exp(9.14 − 0.009CCTbefore), k1 after = exp(8.82 − 0.008CCTafter). According to the results of this study, the central corneal thickness of the patient can be used to estimate the preoperative and postoperative collagen fiber stiffness modulus, and then a personalized corneal model that is more consistent with the actual situation of the patient can be established, providing a theoretical reference for more accurately predicting the safe surgical cutting amount of the cornea.
The aim of this article is to study the effect of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) on the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMPs) in keratoconus fibroblasts in vitro. Normal cornea and keratoconus fibroblasts were extracted using enzyme digestion method and were cultured in the medium containing TNF-α (0, 10 and 100 ng/mL). The expression of MMPs proteins in the supernatant of corneal fibroblasts and the expression of TIMPs in the normal cornea and keratoconus fibroblasts were detected by Western blot and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction respectively. The active form of MMP1 could be detected in the supernatant of keratoconus fibroblasts and upregulated by TNF-α. TNF-α could increase the protein expression of MMP2, MMP3, MMP9 in the supernatant of keratoconus fibroblasts and decrease the gene expression of TIMP1, TIMP2 in keratoconus fibroblasts. The increased MMPs and the decreased TIMPs can increase the degradation of the extracellular matrix. TNF-α may play an important role in the occurrence and development of keratoconus by regulating the expression of MMPs/TIMPs.
In the evaluation of tear film stability based on corneal topography, a pretreatment algorithm for tear film video was proposed for eye movement, eyelash reflection and background interference. First, Sobel operator was used to detect the blur image. Next, the target image with highlighted ring pattern was obtained by the morphological open operation performed on the grayscale image. Then the ring pattern frequency of the target image was extracted through the Hough circle detection and fast Fourier transform, and a band-pass filter was applied to the target image according to the ring pattern frequency. Finally, binarization and morphological closed operation were used for the localization of the ring pattern. Ten tear film videos were randomly selected from the database and processed frame by frame through the above algorithm. The experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm was effective in removing the invalid images in the video sequence and positioning the ring pattern, which laid a foundation for the subsequent evaluation of tear film stability.
As the most important refraction part in the optical system, cornea possesses characteristics which are important parameters in ophthalmology clinical surgery. During the measurement of the cornea in our study, we acquired the corneal data of Orbscan Ⅱ corneal topographer in real time using the Hook technology under Windows, and then took the data into the corneal analysis software. We then further analyzed and calculated the data to obtain individual Q-value of overall corneal 360 semi-meridian. The corneal analysis software took Visual C++6.0 as development environment, used OpenGL graphics technology to draw three-dimensional individual corneal morphological map and the distribution curve of the Q-value, and achieved real-time corneal data query. It could be concluded that the analysis would further extend the function of the corneal topography system, and provide a solid foundation for the further study of automatic screening of corneal diseases.
It is important to design a long-period transparent bioactive material for corneal repair in the process of corneal tissue renovation. This article discusses the silk fibroin and formamide blend membranes as a corneal stroma repair material. Silk fibroin solution was mixed with formamide in different proportions to obtain insoluble transparent silk fibroin film by casting method. The blending membranes had excellent mechanical properties, cell compatibility and long-term transparent properties. Rabbit corneal stromal cells were seeded on the sterilized composite films. The rate of cell surface adhesion was over 90% after cells were placed on it for 5 hours. When cells were seeded on blend membranes from one day to seven days, Alma Blue was added to complete medium. Compared with the cell culture plate, there was no significant difference in cell proliferation on formamide/silk films. The results indicated that formamide/silk films might be used as a corneal stroma repair material and worth of further investigation.
Objective To compare the accuracy of different corneal curvature parameters used in toric intraocular lens (Toric IOL) implantation. Methods Patients who underwent phacoemulsification combined with Toric IOL implantation at the Department of Ophthalmology, the People’s Hospital of Leshan between January and June 2022 were retrospectively included. The following data of all patients were collected: age, sex, axial length, anterior chamber depth, total keratometry (TK) and simulated keratometry (Simk, described as Simk1) measured by IOL Master 700 biometric instrument, total corneal refractive power (TCRP) measured by Pentacam AXL panoramic biometric instrument, Simk measured by iTrace visual function analyzer (described as Simk2), astigmatism of the operative eye, and the optometry (including spherical, cylindrical and axial degrees) of operative eyes three months after operation. According to the different corneal curvature parameters (TK, Simk1, TCRP and Simk2) used in the preoperative degree calculation of Toric IOL, patients were divided into four correspondent groups. By analyzing the differences and consistency in postoperative spherical equivalent, variation of postoperative spherical equivalent and postoperative residual astigmatism among the four groups, the accuracy of the four parameters for Toric IOL implantation was evaluated. Results According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and after propensity score matching, a total of 47 patients (60 operated eyes) were included, with 15 eyes in each group. The spherical equivalent of the TK group, Simk1 group, TCRP group and Simk2 group after operation were (0.38±0.24), (0.49±0.15), (0.69±0.37) and (0.80±0.27) D, respectively. There was no significant difference between the Simk1 group and the TK group (P=0.52), but the differences between the TCRP group, Simk2 group and TK group were all statistically significant (P<0.01). The 95% consistency boundary width of the Simk1 group and the TK group was the narrowest (1.23). The variations of postoperative spherical equivalent of the four groups were (0.25±0.12), (0.39±0.19), (0.64±0.26) and (0.48±0.12) D, respectively. There was no significant difference between the Simk1 group and the TK group (P=0.11), but the differences between the TCRP group, Simk2 group and TK group were all statistically significant (P<0.01). The 95% consistency boundary width of the Simk2 groups and the TK group was the narrowest (0.64). The postoperative residual astigmatism of the four groups were (−0.33±0.12), (−0.57±0.11), (−0.73±0.18) and (−0.70±0.17) D, respectively. The differences between the last three groups and the TK group were statistically significant (P<0.01). The 95% consistency boundary width between the Simk1 group and the TK group was the narrowest (0.58). Conclusion It is a reliable and effective method to use TK to reflect the total corneal curvature and calculate the degree of Toric IOL.