Corneal Imaging and Densitometry Measurements in Juvenile and Adult Keratoconus Patients to Evaluate Disease Progression and Treatment Effects After Corneal Cross-Linking.

Purpose: In this study densitometry software for the Oculus Pentacam was used to investigate the treatment outcomes of corneal cross linking (CXL) in adult and juvenile keratoconus (KCN) patients. Densitometry measurements were taken before and after treatment and followed up for one year.

Methods: A comparative study was carried out at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.

Corneal imaging and densitometry measurements in keratoconus patients to monitor disease progression and treatment outcomes after contact lens or Intacs treatment.

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the pre- and posttreatment corneal densitometry and corneal thickness value of keratoconus (KCN) patients managed via contact lenses (CLs) or by both intrastromal corneal rings and contact lenses.

Patients And Methods: This prospective study was performed at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, UK. Patients were recruited before treatment and followed up for 12 months.

Corneal clarity measurements in patients with keratoconus undergoing either penetrating or deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty.

Purpose: To compare the corneal clarity measurement between penetrating keratoplasty (PK) and deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) in patients with keratoconus, using densitometry software for the Oculus Pentacam.

Methods: A retrospective comparative study was carried out at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. Data were collected 12-18 months after corneal transplantation for keratoconus, including postoperative corneal densitometry, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central corneal thickness (CCT), and other relevant clinical details.

Evaluation of corneal symmetry after UV corneal crosslinking for keratoconus.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess UV corneal crosslinking (CXL) treatment outcomes for keratoconus by evaluating the corneal regularity in patients through follow-up using the Oculus Pentacam.

Patients And Methods: A total of 18 eyes from CXL patients with keratoconus were studied before and after CXL treatment, and six eyes from six patients who were not treated with CXL served as controls. Treated patients had Pentacam images taken before CXL treatment and regularly 3 months post treatment up to the 12th month.

Corneal clarity measurements in healthy volunteers across different age groups: Observational study.

The aim of this study was to standardize and investigate the changes in corneal clarity with age. Densitometry software for the Oculus Pentacam was used to examine corneal clarity at different age groups.A total of 192 eyes from 97 healthy participants were included in this cohort comparative nonrandomized, cross-sectional study.

Evaluation of Corneal Cross-Linking for Treatment of Fungal Keratitis: Using Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy on an Ex Vivo Human Corneal Model.

Purpose: Some previous reports have established the use of photoactivated chromophore-induced corneal cross-linking (PACK-CXL) in treating fungal keratitis. The results of these case reports have often been conflicting. To systematically study the effect of PACK-CXL in the management of Fusarium keratitis, we have developed an ex vivo model of human corneal infection using eye-banked human corneas.

Regeneration of Corneal Epithelium With Dental Pulp Stem Cells Using a Contact Lens Delivery System.

Purpose: The corneal epithelium is sloughed off surface of the eye by the action of blinking and is continually replaced by division and maturation of the limbal stem cells (LSCs). In the case of injury or disease, LSCs can be lost or damaged to a point at which the corneal epithelial layer is no longer maintained. leading to LSC deficiencies (LSCDs).

High-plasticity mesenchymal stem cells isolated from adult-retained primary teeth and autogenous adult tooth pulp--A potential source for regenerative therapies?

Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare the growth rate, morphology, immunohistology and plasticity of autogenous adult-retained SHEDs (arSHEDs) and adult dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) obtained from the same donor.

Methods: Expression of the mesenchymal stem cell markers CD44, CD90, CD105, caspase-3 and GAPDH were assessed using RT-PCR. Caspase-3 and CD44 were also evaluated at the protein level by western blotting of cell lysates.

Biomechanical Changes of Collagen Cross-Linking on Human Keratoconic Corneas Using Scanning Acoustic Microscopy.

Purpose: To assess the biomechanical changes of collagen cross-linking on keratoconic corneas in vitro.

Methods: Six keratoconic corneal buttons were included in this study. Each cornea was divided into two halves, where one half was cross-linked and the other half was treated with riboflavin only and served as control.

Biomechanical changes after repeated collagen cross-linking on human corneas assessed in vitro using scanning acoustic microscopy.

Purpose: To explore the biomechanical changes induced by repeated cross-linking using scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM).

Methods: Thirty human corneas were divided into three groups. In group A, five corneas were cross-linked once.

Biomechanical properties of human corneas following low- and high-intensity collagen cross-linking determined with scanning acoustic microscopy.

Purpose: To assess and compare changes in the biomechanical properties of the cornea following different corneal collagen cross-linking protocols using scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM).

Methods: Ten donor human corneal pairs were divided into two groups consisting of five corneal pairs in each group. In group A, five corneas were treated with low-fluence (370 nm, 3 mW/cm(2)) cross-linking (CXL) for 30 minutes.

Scanning acoustic microscopy for mapping the microelastic properties of human corneal tissue.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of applying scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) on UV cross-linked corneal tissue for mapping and analyzing its biomechanical properties.

Materials And Methods: Five corneal pairs (10 corneas) were used. In each pair, one cornea was cross-linked (epithelium removed, riboflavin application for 45 min and UVA irradiation for 30 min) and the contralateral control cornea was epithelial debrided and treated only with riboflavin for 45 min.

An in depth analysis of histopathological characteristics found in keratoconus.

Aims: The aims of this study were to re-assess the histopathology of the disease by introducing more modern measuring techniques and to determine if axial stromal thinning, which is the most apparent change, is related to the other alterations observed.

Methods: Recipient keratoconic corneas from 36 patients following corneal transplantation were studied. Haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining were used to identify breaks in Bowman's layer and Descemet's membrane.

The influence of donor and recipient factors in allograft rejection of the human cornea.

Unlabelled: The health of the corneal endothelium is essential in maintaining the clarity of the transplanted human cornea. Immune-mediated endothelial rejection is a complex series of events, which may culminate in the decompensation of the donor button. It is the commonest instigator of failure in penetrating corneal transplantation.

Increased Rac2 mRNA expression in peripheral blood during human corneal graft rejection.

Purpose: Allograft rejection is the main cause of graft failure in human corneal transplantation, for which underlying pathomechanism is not yet clear. We compared gene expression in the peripheral blood of patients who after undergoing corneal transplantation experienced graft rejection with those patients who accepted grafts.

Methods: Sixty-six patients who underwent corneal transplantation were studied including 18 patients who suffered subsequent graft rejection.

Functional role of CD105 in TGF-beta1 signalling in murine and human endothelial cells.

Background: Angiogenesis is important in health and several disease states. CD105 is a proliferation-associated and hypoxia-inducible transmembrane protein abundantly expressed in angiogenic endothelial cells. CD105 is a receptor for transforming growth factors (TGF)-beta1 and -beta3.

Apoptotic gene expression in Paget's disease: a possible role for Bcl-2.

Paget's disease of bone is characterized by an increase in both the size and the number of bone-resorbing osteoclasts. An important regulator of osteoclast activity is the process of apoptosis, and any aberration in this process could lead to increased osteoclasis. Analysis using human apoptosis cDNA expression arrays revealed that the apoptotic suppressor, Bcl-2, showed a marked increase in expression in Pagetic bone.

Apoptosis of terminal hypertrophic chondrocytes in an in vitro model of endochondral ossification.

It is widely accepted that growth plate chondrocytes undergo apoptosis when they reach the terminal hypertrophic stage of their differentiation during the process of endochondral ossification in vivo. In this report, an established chondrocyte cell culture model of mammalian endochondral ossification was utilized to investigate the fate of chondrocytes after they had entered hypertrophy in vitro. Fetal bovine epiphyseal chondrocytes were treated with the demethylating agent, 5-azacytidine, for 48 h and then cultured under azacytidine-depleted conditions.

Increased gelatinase activity in systemic sclerosis dermal fibroblast cultures with unaltered gelatinase A mRNA expression.

Gelatinase A is one of the matrix metalloproteinases, the principle enzymes degrading extracellular matrix (ECM) and basement membrane components. The aim of this study was to study gelatinase expression in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Fibroblasts were grown from uninvolved and involved skin of SSc patients and from healthy controls.

Fas mRNA expression in blood is reduced during episodes of human corneal graft rejection.

Background: Our purpose is to examine levels of Fas mRNA expression in blood during human corneal transplant rejection.

Methods: Fas mRNA expression was detected by reverse transcription-PCR in blood from normal controls, corneal recipients at the time of transplantation and during episodes of rejection.

Results: Samples taken at the time of a corneal rejection episode showed Fas mRNA levels were significantly lower in these patients than either normal controls (P = 0.

A novel cell culture model of chondrocyte differentiation during mammalian endochondral ossification.

Endochondral ossification (EO) occurs in the growth plate where chondrocytes pass through discrete stages of proliferation, maturation, hypertrophy, and calcification. We have developed and characterized a novel bovine cell culture model of EO that mirrors these events and will facilitate in vitro studies on factors controlling chondrocyte differentiation. Chondrocytes derived from the epiphyses of long bones of fetal calves were treated with 5-azacytidine (aza-C) for 48 h.

The ribosomal protein QM is expressed differentially during vertebrate endochondral bone development.

Endochondral ossification is a carefully coordinated developmental process that converts the cartilaginous model of the embryonic skeleton to bone with accompanying long bone growth. To identify genes that regulate this process we performed a complementary DNA (cDNA) subtractive hybridization of fetal bovine proliferative chondrocyte cDNA from epiphyseal cartilage cDNA. The subtracted product was used to screen a fetal bovine cartilage cDNA library.

Corneal epithelial-specific cytokeratin 3 is an autoantigen in Wegener's granulomatosis-associated peripheral ulcerative keratitis.

Purpose: In a previous investigation it was demonstrated that circulating antibodies to a 66-kDa corneal epithelial antigen (BCEA-A) are associated with peripheral ulcerative keratitis (PUK) in patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). The aim of this study was to identify BCEA-A.

Methods: The 66-kDa antigen was purified from a bovine corneal epithelial protein extract, using DE52 ion exchange chromatography.