Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of interleukin-1 (IL-1) in modulating myofibroblast viability in mouse corneas with stromal opacity. Twenty-four female B6; 129S1-Il1r1tm1Roml/J homozygous IL-1RI knockout mice and 24 control B6129SF2/J mice were included in this study. Each mouse had opacity-generating irregular phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) performed with an excimer laser in one eye. Groups of 8 mice from each group were euthanized at one month, three months and six months after surgery and the eyes cryo-preserved. The contralateral eye served as unwounded control. Immunohistochemistry was performed for α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) in central sections of all corneas. The TUNEL assay for apoptosis was performed on 8 sections of four eyes from each group. No SMA+ cells were detected in the stroma of unwounded control or knockout corneas. SMA+ myofibroblast density was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the IL-1RI knockout group than in the control group at one month, three and six months after irregular PTK. Mean TUNEL+ stromal cells in the anterior 50 μm of stroma was significantly lower in the IL-1RI knockout group compared to the control group at six months after irregular PTK (p = 0.04). These results corroborate the findings of recent in vitro work that demonstrated an antagonistic effect of TGFβ and IL-1 on myofibroblast viability, and found that IL-1-triggered myofibroblast apoptosis was suppressed by TGFβ. Thus, IL-1 is an important modulator of myofibroblast viability during corneal wound healing.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 65-69 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Experimental Eye Research |
Volume | 96 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2012 |
Keywords
- Apoptosis
- Cornea
- Interleukin-1
- Interleukin-1 receptor
- Myofibroblasts
- Phototherapeutic keratectomy
- Stroma
- Wound healing
- α-smooth muscle actin
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ophthalmology
- Sensory Systems
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience