Effect of epithelial cell injury on anterior corneal oxygen flux.
The aerobic response of epithelial metabolism to cellular injury or disease was studied with a three-layer model of the cornea. Nonclassical (Michaelis-Menten) respiratory kinetics were assumed, and predicted fluxes validated by reference to known estimates. The model indicates that epithelial oxygen flux is linearly related to epithelial oxygen consumption, and is therefore a direct index of epithelial aerobic metabolism. Injury leading to de-epithelialization decreases total anterior corneal oxygen flux. The decreases reported experimentally with a polarographic oxygen sensor on the denuded stroma in vivo are greater than theoretically predicted. This effect is due to a limited capture depth of the technique, which "sees" only the anterior stroma.
D000332:Aerobiosis; D003315:Cornea / Q000378:metabolism*; D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism; D005131:Eye Injuries / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D010101:Oxygen Consumption