Grading the Severity of Damage to the Perijunctional Actomyosin Ring and Zonula Occludens-1 of the Corneal Endothelium by Ensemble Learning Methods.

In many epithelia, including the corneal endothelium, intracellular/extracellular stresses break down the perijunctional actomyosin ring (PAMR) and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) at the apical junctions. This study aims to grade the severity of damage to PAMR and ZO-1 through machine learning. Immunocytochemical images of PAMR and ZO-1 were drawn from recent studies on the corneal endothelium subjected to hypothermia and oxidative stress.

Oxidative Stress Induces a Breakdown of the Cytoskeleton and Tight Junctions of the Corneal Endothelial Cells.

To investigate the impact of oxidative stress, which is a hallmark of Fuchs dystrophy, on the barrier function of the corneal endothelial cells. Experiments were carried out with cultured bovine and porcine corneal endothelial cells. For oxidative stress, cells were supplemented with riboflavin (Rf) and exposed to UV-A (15-30 min) to induce Type-1 photochemical reactions that release HO.