Alterations in corneal innervations result in impaired corneal sensation, severe dry eye and damage to the epithelium that may in turn lead to corneal ulcers, melting and perforation. These alterations can occur after refractive surgery. We have discovered that pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA or the docosanoid bioactive neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1)) induces n...

Background and Purpose: Corneal injury can result in dysfunction of corneal nociceptive signaling and corneal sensitization. Activation of the endocannabinoid system has been reported to be analgesic and anti-inflammatory. The purpose of this research was to investigate the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of cannabinoids with reported actions at cannabinoid 1 (CB1R) and cannabinoi...

Accumulating evidence supports the dogma that the corneal epithelium is regenerated by stem cells located exclusively in the limbal niche, at the corneal periphery. Accordingly, limbal stem cells (LSCs) give rise to progenitors that proliferate and migrate centripetally to repopulate the corneal epithelium, which has a short turnover. Moreover, LSC loss leads to corneal opacity and blindness, w...

INTRODUCTION The objective of this study was to study the epidemiological characteristics and the microbiological profile of patients suspected with microbial keratitis in Gujarat. METHODS Corneal scraping was collected from 200 consecutive cases of suspected microbial keratitis and was subjected to direct examination and culture. RESULTS Of the 200 ulcers 55% were culture positive, 26.5% w...

Previous reports demonstrated that adult stem/progenitor cells from bone marrow (multipotent mesenchymal stem cells; MSCs) can repair injured tissues with little evidence of engraftment or differentiation. In exploring this phenomenon, our group has recently discovered that the therapeutic benefits of MSCs are in part explained by the cells being activated by signals from injured tissues to exp...

Running title: Corneal injury by formic acid The authors declare no conflict of interest and do not have any commercial interest regarding this work. 2 Abstract We describe a case of severe, bilateral ocular injury by concentrated formic acid in a 38-year-old male. Complete epithelial loss, stromal edema, conjunctival hyperemia, and limbal involvement were noted initially. During the healing ph...

OBJECTIVE To determine the factors affecting the visual outcome in patients with open globe injuries of eye. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a prospective interventional study of consecutive patients with open globe injuries, the age, gender, place of injury, object causing injury and safety precautions taken were recorded. A detailed examination of the eye was done with a slit-lamp. X-rays of the o...

This mini-review provides an overview of recent trends in our understanding of the general structure of the cornea, the importance of corneal nerves, their function and distribution in the different layers of the cornea based on reports obtained by imaging techniques such as in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. Recent data on corneal nerve status in condit...

Vision impairment from corneal fibrosis is a common consequence of irregular corneal wound healing after injury. Intermediate-conductance calmodulin/calcium-activated K+ channels 3.1 (KCa3.1) play an important role in cell cycle progression and cellular proliferation. Proliferation and differentiation of corneal fibroblasts to myofibroblasts can lead to corneal fibrosis after injury. KCa3.1 has...