Purpose: To image leukocyte adherence to the vascular endothelium and extravasation into surrounding tissues in neovascularized corneas using acridine orange, a selective DNA stain, in rats Methods: Corneal neovascularization was induced by placing two sutures in the cornea of one eye of 12 Long-Evans rats. One week later, acridine orange (4 mg/kg) was injected via the tail vein and the eyes we...

Amniotic membranes (AM) have been used in a wide range of clinical applications. We successfully extracted mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from human AM, but little is known about the use and efficacy of human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAM-dMSCs) for the treatment of alkali burns. We utilized hAM-dMSCs transplantation, AM grafting, and their combined use in the treatment o...

PURPOSE The drug dichloromethylene diphosphonate (CL2MDP) encapsulated in liposomes depletes macrophages but not other immunocompetent cells. The authors investigated whether subconjunctival injection of CL2MDP containing liposomes (CL2MDP-LIP) could prolong survival of corneal allografts in rats. METHODS Male Fisher rats received orthotopic corneal grafts of Dark Agouti origin. Rats were tre...

To determine the contribution by tenascin X (Tnx) gene expression to corneal stromal angiogenesis, the effects were determined of its loss on this response in TNX knockout (KO) mice. In parallel, the effects of such a loss were evaluated on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) gene and protein expression in fibroblasts and macrophages in cell cultu...

The effect of local and systemic injections of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue (AD-MSC) into rabbit models of corneal allograft rejection with either normal-risk or high-risk vascularized corneal beds was investigated. The models we present in this study are more similar to human corneal transplants than previously reported murine models. Our aim was to prevent transplant rej...

PURPOSE To determine whether epithelium-deprived corneal allografts covered with syngeneic epithelium display immune privilege in orthotopic transplantation and whether syngeneic epithelium containing antigen-presenting cells nullifies this effect. METHODS Epithelium-deprived allogeneic corneas (C57BL/6) and epithelium-deprived allogeneic corneas reconstituted with syngeneic (BALB/c) epitheli...