PURPOSE To examine the temporal and spatial expression of Sp1 and Krüppel-like factor 6 (KLF6) in the cornea in fetal and adult human eyes. METHODS Eyes from human fetus (F) of 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 27 weeks (w) of gestation, as well as corneas from 11 and 56-day (d)-old children and donors 2, 6, 16, 25, 40, 51, 69, and 83 years (y) of age were obtained. All specimens were fixed in 10% buffer...

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...

In order to validate in situ corneal redox fluorometry, the redox state and phosphorylation potential of freeze trapped rabbit corneal epithelium and endothelium were studied using quantitative histochemical methods. The results were compared with noninvasive measurements using an optically sectioning fluorometer microscope. Enucleated rabbit eyes were either frozen in Freon-12, cooled by liqui...

Quantitative electron microprobe x-ray analyzer (EMX) assays of calcium concentrations in the aqueous and cornea of rabbits under various conditions, including experimental band keratopathy, are presented. Aqueous calcium values were significantly lowered in band keratopathy. The corneal calcium concentration remained constant in all the conditions tested throughout all layers of the cornea, wi...

PURPOSE Maspin, a tumor-suppressor protein that regulates cell migration, invasion, and adhesion, is synthesized by many normal epithelial cells, but downregulated in invasive epithelial tumor cells. The purpose of this study was to determine whether cells in the normal human cornea express maspin and whether maspin affects corneal stromal cell adhesion to extracellular matrix molecules. METH...

PURPOSE A tripeptide chemoattractant(s) for neutrophils has been shown to release from alkali-degraded cornea. This study is designed to determine the source of the chemoattractant(s). METHODS Whole corneas were degraded in 1 N NaOH for 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4, 8, 24, and 48 hours to determine an optimal duration of alkali exposure for production of the chemoattractant. Whole cornea...

Many Dipteran compound eyes, especially the Tabanidae, show colored reflection patterns ivhen illuminated with white light. For instance, the female horsefly Hybomitra lasiophthalma compound eye, when viewed from the same direction as the illumination, displays a stripsd pattern consisting of 5 dark stripes, predominantly bluish, and 4 bright stripes, predominantly orangish. The pattern consist...

AIM To estimate the biomechanical effect of the laser-induced cross-linking resulting from photorefractive ablation of the cornea with riboflavin. METHODS Excimer laser ablation studies were performed ex vivo (32 eyes of 16 rabbits) by phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) and in vivo (24 eyes of 12 rabbits) by transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (TransPRK), with and without riboflavin s...

PURPOSE An alternative autologous tissue for ocular surface reconstruction is a potential treatment for the patients with bilateral limbal stem cell deficiency. For the purpose of regenerative procedures in patients, it is desirable to eliminate the involvement of xenogeneic components, such as nonhuman sera and feeder cells. In the present study, we examined the behavior and phenotypic feature...

PURPOSE To determine the relative expression of cell cycle-association proteins in human corneal and limbal epithelium and corneal endothelium in situ, to correlate staining patterns of cell cycle-associated proteins with known proliferative status of corneal and limbal epithelial cells, and to determine the relative proliferative status of corneal endothelial cells in situ by comparing their s...