Expression of Nerve Growth Factor during Corneal Epithelial Wound Healing in Rats

Hye Young Shin; Ji Wook Yang; Young Chun Lee; Su Young Kim

doi:10.3341/jkos.2011.52.5.597

Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.52(5) > 1009040

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Shin, Yang, Lee, and Kim: Expression of Nerve Growth Factor during Corneal Epithelial Wound Healing in Rats

Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2011;52(5):597-602.

Published online: 3 August 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2011.52.5.597

Expression of Nerve Growth Factor during Corneal Epithelial Wound Healing in Rats

Hye Young Shin, MD, Ji Wook Yang, MD, Young Chun Lee, MD, PhD, Su Young Kim, MD, PhD

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, The Catholic University of Korea School of Medicine, Uijeongbu, Korea

Address reprint requests to Su Young Kim, MD, PhD Department of Ophthalmology, Uijeongbu St. Mary’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea #65-1 Geumo-dong, Uijeongbu 480-717, Korea Tel: 82-31-820-3110, Fax: 82-31-847-3418, E-mail: cassiopeia-su@hanmail.net

Received 13 August 201019 November 2010 Accepted 2 March 2011

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the rat cornea and lacrimal gland before and after corneal epithelial wounding.

Methods

Twenty-nine Sprague-Dawley male rats were used in the present study. Corneal trephination was performed using a 4.0-mm diameter trephine before scratch and at 24, 48, 72 hours after debridement. The lacrimal gland was excised before scratch and at 24 hours after epithelial debridement. NGF levels of the excised cornea and lacrimal gland were measured in rat corneas by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Immunohistochemistry staining was performed on rat corneas and lacrimal glands.

Results

The NGF/total protein ratio (NGF/tP) increased after wounding in the cornea and lacrimal gland. NGF levels in the cornea significantly increased in the wounded group until the 2nd day after wounding (p < 0.05). After NGF concentration peaked on the 1st day, there was a progressive decline after wounding. Additionally, the NGF concentration in the lacrimal gland of the wounded group was significantly higher than that of the control group at 24 hours after epithelial debridement (p = 0.001). Immunohistochemistry staining showed that NGF staining was stronger in rat corneas and lacrimal glands after epithelial debridement than before.

Conclusions

Expression of NGF increased in rat corneas and lacrimal glands after corneal epithelial wounding, which suggests that NGF may play an important role in corneal wound healing.

Keywords: Cornea, Lacrimal gland, Nerve growth factor, Rat

References

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Figure 1.

The nerve growth factor/total protein (NGF/tP, pg/mg) concentrations of rat corneal tissue after epithelial debridement. NGF protein levels were quantified in the cornea over time after complete epithelium debridement. Five ani-mals were evaluated per time point. NGF levels of the corneal tissue significantly increased in the wounded group until 2 days after wounding. ^* p < 0.05, n = 5 per group, ANOVA repeated measure.

Figure 2.

The nerve growth factor/total protein (NGF/tP, pg/mg) concentrations of the rat lacrimal gland tissue. At 24 hours after epithelial debridement, the rat lacrimal gland NGF concentrations increased when compared with the control group. ^* p = 0.001, n = 5 per group, ANOVA repeated measure.

Figure 3.

Immunohistologic detection of NGF in rat corneal tissue of the unwounded, control group (A) and wounded group at 1 day (B) and 7 days (C) after epithelial debridement. NGF staining is stronger in the cornea at 24 hours after epithelial debridement than in unwounded cornea (Streptavidin-biotin, magnification ×200).

Figure 4.

Immunohistologic detection of NGF in rat lacrimal tissue of the unwounded, control group (A) and wounded group at 24 hours (B) after epithelial debridement. At 24 hours after epithelial debridement, the lacrimal NGF expression increased in the aci-nar cell and lumen when compared with that of control group (Streptavidin-biotin, magnification ×40).

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