Measurements of corneal thickness, endothelial cell size, endothelial permeability to fluorescein, and intraocular pressure were made in two groups of human subjects: 21 persons with cornea guttata (early Fuchs dystrophy without epithelial edema) and 17 persons age- and sex-matched but with normal corneas. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in all four measu...

Corneal diseases are the third leading cause of blindness globally. Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), steroids, antibiotics and tissue transplantation are currently used to treat corneal pathological conditions. However, barrier properties of the ocular surface necessitate high concentration of the drugs applied in the eye repeatedly. This often results in poor efficacy and...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of gefarnate on mucin-like glycoprotein secretion in isolated rabbit conjunctival tissue, and on corneal epithelial damage in rabbit and cat dry-eye models. METHODS Conjunctival tissue isolated from rabbits was treated with gefarnate. Mucin-like glycoprotein was detected in the culture supernatant by an enzyme-linked lectin assay. Gefar...

PURPOSE Junctional adhesion molecules (JAMs) are a family of adhesion proteins found in intercellular junctions. Evidence suggests that JAM-A is important for the regulation of tight junction assembly and epithelial barrier function. The authors recently reported that JAM-A is expressed in rabbit corneal endothelium and that antibody to JAM-A produces corneal swelling. In the present study, the...

Influence of pH, buffer, preservative, tonicity and viscosity modifiers on in vitro transcorneal permeation of ofloxacin was studied using excised goat cornea. Permeation studies were carried out by putting 1 ml of test formulation on the cornea (0.78cm) mounted between the donor and receptor compartments of an all glass modified Franz diffusion cell and measuring ofloxacin concentration in the...

PURPOSE Neurturin has been identified as a neurotrophic factor for parasympathetic neurons. Neurturin-deficient (NRTN(-/-)) mice have defective parasympathetic innervation of their lacrimal glands. This study was conducted to evaluate tear function and ocular surface phenotype in NRTN(-/-) mice. METHODS Determined by tail genomic DNA PCR, 25 NRTN(-/-) mice and 17 neurturin-normal (NRTN(+/+)) ...

Drug delivery carriers can maintain effective therapeutic concentrations in the eye. To this end, we developed lipid nanoparticles (L/NPs) in which the surface was modified with positively charged chitosan, which engaged in hydrogen bonding with the phospholipid membrane. We evaluated in vitro corneal permeability and release characteristics, ocular irritation, and drug dynamics of modified and...

Various aqueous and oily diclofenac ophthalmic formulations were subjected to accelerated and long term stability studies. Degradation of diclofenac was found to follow first-order kinetics. Among the aqueous formulations containing preservative, formulation with PMA, PMN, SA, MP/PP and SMS showed diclofenac content above 90% after 6 months of accelerated and 12 months of room temperature stora...