Background: Epithelial basement membrane dystrophy (EBMD) is by far the most common corneal dystrophy. In this study, we used a newly developed method of immunofluorescence staining and imaging to study the entire corneal nerve architecture of a donor with unilateral EBMD.
Method: Two fresh eyes from a 56-year-old male donor were obtained; the right eye of the donor was diagnosed with EBMD and the left was normal. After slit lamp examination, the corneas were immunostained with anti-β-tubulin III antibody. Images were recorded by a fluorescent microscope equipped with a Photometrics digital camera using MetaVue imaging software.
Results: The left cornea appeared normal as observed by slit lamp and stereomicroscope, but the right eye had numerous irregular geographic patches in the basement membrane. Immunofluorescence showed no difference in the stromal nerve distribution between the 2 eyes, but there were areas without innervations in the EBMD cornea. Subbasal nerve fibers also showed tortuous courses and fewer divisions. There was a significant decrease in the density of subbasal nerve fibers and the number of terminals in the right eye.
Conclusion: We show for the first time detailed nerve architecture in an EBMD cornea. Our results suggest that EBMD-induced abnormalities of basement membrane altered epithelial nerve architecture and decreased nerve density, contributing to the pathology of the disease.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000345766 | DOI Listing |
Physiol Rep
January 2025
Developmental Biology and Cancer Research and Teaching Department, University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
Polycystic kidney diseases (PKD) are genetic disorders which disrupt kidney architecture and function. Autosomal recessive PKD (ARPKD) is a rare form of PKD, caused by mutations in PKHD1, and clinically more severe than the more common autosomal dominant PKD (ADPKD). Prior studies have implicated Hedgehog (Hh) signaling in ADPKD, with increased levels of Hh components in experimental ADPKD and reduced cystogenesis following pharmacological Hh inhibition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, P. R. China.
Neural-electronic interfaces through delivering electroceuticals to lesions and modulating pathological endogenous electrical environments offer exciting opportunities to treat drug-refractory neurological disorders. Such an interface should ideally be compatible with the neural tissue and aggressive biofluid environment. Unfortunately, no interface specifically designed for the biofluid environments is available so far; instead, simply stacking an encapsulation layer on silicon-based substrates makes them susceptible to biofluid leakage, device malfunction, and foreign-body reactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElife
January 2025
Center for Spatial and Functional Genomics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States.
The prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing worldwide, along with the associated common comorbidities of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in later life. Motivated by evidence for a strong genetic component, our prior genome-wide association study (GWAS) efforts for childhood obesity revealed 19 independent signals for the trait; however, the mechanism of action of these loci remains to be elucidated. To molecularly characterize these childhood obesity loci, we sought to determine the underlying causal variants and the corresponding effector genes within diverse cellular contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethodsX
June 2025
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr.Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu 600062, India.
The disease affects the optic nerve and represents the principle reasons of irreversible vision loss, mostly asymptomatic and uncontrolled. Consequently, early and accurate diagnosis is critical to prevent or reduce its effect, however, conventional diagnostic techniques often fail to provide concrete results. In this regard, we present a new approach built on Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) and MobileNetV2 pretrained architecture for diagnosing glaucoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHum Brain Mapp
January 2025
Division of Brain, Imaging, and Behaviour, Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
A fundamental issue in neuroscience is a lack of understanding regarding the relationship between brain function and the white matter architecture that supports it. Individuals with chronic neuropathic pain (NP) exhibit functional abnormalities throughout brain networks collectively termed the "dynamic pain connectome" (DPC), including the default mode network (DMN), salience network, and ascending nociceptive and descending pain modulation systems. These functional abnormalities are often observed in a sex-dependent fashion.
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