Background & Aims: Nocardia asteroides is gram-positive, partially acid-fast, aerobic actinomycetes which cause a wide range of skin infections, and pulmonary, cerebral, and ocular infection. Case Presentation: A 60-year-old man with diabetes presented with ocular ulcers in 2015. Through the medical records evaluation, physical examination, and biochemical evaluation of the patient, Nocardia as...

PURPOSE To examine the efficacy of a novel method of decellularizing porcine corneal stroma using N(2) gas from liquid N(2) and the feasibility of using decellularized porcine corneal stroma in a corneal transplantation model in rabbits. METHODS Porcine corneas were placed in a tube, and N(2) gas from liquid N(2) was poured into the tube to freeze the corneas and make the inside of the tube h...

PURPOSE Allograft rejection is the leading cause of corneal graft failure. CD4(+) T cells control the allograft response and represent targets for antirejection therapy. The purpose of this study was to transfer cDNA encoding a monomeric anti-CD4 antibody fragment to donor corneal endothelium, to attempt to modulate orthotopic corneal allograft rejection in the rat. METHODS A replication-defi...

AIMS To evaluate the role of amniotic membrane transplantation in patients with acute ocular burns. METHODS In a prospective, randomised, controlled clinical trial, 100 patients with grade II to IV acute ocular burns (Roper Hall Classification) were recruited. 50 patients with grade II-III burns were graded as moderate burns, and 50 patients with grade IV burns were graded as severe burns. Bo...

Purpose Corneal transplantation remains the last hope for vision restoration, and lymphangiogenesis (LG) is a primary mediator of transplant rejection. This study was to investigate the specific role of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) in transplantation-associated LG and graft rejection. Methods Orthotopic corneal transplantation was performed between fully mismatched C57BL/6 (donor) and BALB/c (recip...

Context: In cases of damaged corneal endothelium cells (CECs) of the eye, transplantation of cultured vascular endothelial cells (VECs) may be a viable method to restore transparency. Aims: To evaluate the viability of replacing damaged primate CECs with cultured allogeneic VECs. Subjects and Methods: Rhesus monkey VECs (RMVECs) were cultured and proliferating cells were labeled with bromodeoxy...

BACKGROUND Peripheral nerve damage of the cornea is a complication following surgery or infection which may lead to decreased visual function. We examined the efficacy of the semaphorin 3A inhibitor, SM-345431, in promoting regeneration of peripheral nerves in a mouse corneal transplantation model. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS P0-Cre/Floxed-EGFP mice which express EGFP in peripheral nerves ...

Corneal epithelium is a self-renewing tissue. Recent studies indicate that corneal epithelial stem cells reside preferentially in the basal layer of peripheral cornea in the limbal zone, rather than uniformly in the entire corneal epithelium. This idea is supported by a unique limbal/corneal expression pattern of the K3 keratin marker for corneal-type differentiation; the preferential distribut...

1. Letko E, Stechschulte SU, Kenyon KR, et al. Amniotic membrane inlay and overlay grafting for corneal epithelial defects and stromal ulcers. Arch Ophthalmol. 2001;119:659-663. 2. Ferreira De Souza R, Hofmann-Rummelt C, Kruse FE, Seitz B. Multilayer amniotic membrane transplantation for corneal ulcers not treatable by conventional therapy—a prospective study of the status of cornea and graft d...

CASE REPORT A 74-year-old man developed a partial limbal stem cell deficiency secondary to a chemical injury in the left eye. He was treated with a sectorial conjunctival epitheliectomy and amniotic membrane transplantation. After 3 weeks there was an intact, smooth and stable corneal epithelium. DISCUSSION This case report emphasizes that conjunctival epitheliectomy and amniotic membrane tra...