title: Presence of growth factor in human vitreous.
abstract: The aqueous humor and the vitreous not only maintain integrity of the eye but also play a vital role in providing nutrients to ocular tissues. While the presence of epidermal growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor, and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) have been confirmed in human aqueous humor, only TGF-beta has been found to exist in human vitreous. In this study I obtained eyes for keratoplasty from 20 male and 20 female donors, or a total of 40 subjects; upon removing the corneal button. I extracted 500 microliters of the vitreous humor in order to confirm, using the ELISA method, the presence of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) in the vitreous. TGF-alpha ranging from 78 to 250 pg/ml, or an average of 130.65 +/- 40.89 pg/ml, was found in all eyes. On the other hand, EGF was not confirmed in all eyes. This is the first study to confirm the presence of TGF-alpha in the human vitreous.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Majima
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D014019:Tissue Donors; D016211:Transforming Growth Factor alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016211:Transforming Growth Factor alpha