UV absorption in human oral mucosal epithelial sheets for ocular surface reconstruction.
BACKGROUND
Ocular surface reconstruction with autologous oral mucosal epithelium has attracted attention as a novel treatment strategy that avoids allograft rejection.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the absorption of ultraviolet (UV) A or B irradiation by human oral mucosal epithelium cultured on human amniotic membrane.


METHODS
Human oral mucosal and limbal epithelial cells were co-cultured on amniotic membrane with inactivated 3T3 fibroblasts. The cell sheets were also subjected to UV-A (365 nm) or UV-B (302 nm) irradiation at energy levels ranging from 50 to 800 microW/cm2, and the UV absorption rate was measured with a UV irradiation meter.


RESULTS
Cultured oral mucosal epithelium had a structure with 3-5 layers of cells, consistent with the histological features of cultured corneal limbal epithelium after 4 weeks. The decrease in UV-A absorption of cultivated oral mucosal epithelium ranged from 25 to 36% of that for cultured corneal epithelium. The increase in UV-B absorption by cultured oral mucosal epithelium between 200 and 800 microW/cm2 was approximately 145% of that for cultured corneal limbal epithelium.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data demonstrated that cultured oral mucosal epithelium has low UV-A and high UV-B absorption capacity as compared with those of cultured corneal epithelium, suggesting that oral mucosal epithelium can compensate for UV absorption of corneal epithelium.
Yokoo
Seiichi
S
Department of Corneal Tissue Regeneration, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Yamagami
Satoru
S
Mimura
Tatsuya
T
Amano
Shiro
S
Saijo
Hideto
H
Mori
Yoshiyuki
Y
Takato
Tsuyoshi
T
D016475:3T3 Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000528:radiation effects; D000650:Amnion; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D016850:Limbus Corneae / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000166:cytology*; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays