Effect of bovine freeze-dried amniotic membrane (Amnisite-BA) on uncomplicated canine corneal erosion.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of bovine freeze-dried amniotic membrane (FD-AM) (Amnisite-BA) in the surgical treatment of corneal ulceration in dogs.


METHODS
Eight normal Shih-tzu dogs.


METHODS
The corneas of 16 eyes were scored with an 8.0-mm trephine under general anesthetic and 100% ethanol was applied to remove a standardized button of corneal epithelium. The eyes were treated as described below and the corneas were evaluated 48 h later. The dogs were divided into four treatment groups: (i) control, (ii) amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT), (iii) nictitating membrane flap and (iv) contact lens. The proportion of the corneal wound that healed was calculated and all eyes were enucleated. Histological sections of cornea were assessed with the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) assay.


RESULTS
The proportion of corneas healed in the different treatment groups was (i) 38.02%, (ii) 89.15%, (iii) 52.31%, and (iv) 60.56%. Epithelial healing was significantly increased in the AMT group (ii) (P = 0.001) while groups (iii) and (iv) were not significantly different from the control group (P = 0.537 and P = 0.198, respectively). The number of PCNA positive cells was (i) 275.00, (ii) 740.50, (iii) 285.75 and (iv) 420.59, these varying compared with the control group with statistical significance of (ii) P = 0.002, (iii) P = 0.999, and (iv) P = 0.467. The greatest healing rate and epithelial cell proliferation was achieved with AMT compared to the other treatment regimes.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study show that FD-AM transplantation is an effective treatment for enhancing canine corneal wound healing and suggest that the approach will provide superior results compared to conventional treatments for the condition.
Kim
Joon Young
JY
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK. canvet@hanafos.com
Choi
Young Min
YM
Jeong
Soon Wuk
SW
Williams
David L
DL
D000650:Amnion / Q000637:transplantation*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003320:Corneal Ulcer / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D004285:Dogs; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D011897:Random Allocation; D016378:Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*
D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen