title: Effects of activated omental cells on rat limbal corneal alkali injury.
abstract: Omental cells (OCs) are shown to help wound healing. The purpose of this study is to investigate if OCs improve cornea repair after alkali injury by subconjunctival injection of activated OCs in rats. Forty eight hours after limbal corneal alkali injury, fresh isolated OCs were injected subconjunctivally into the recipient rat's eye. Prior to the injury and at 0, 4 and 8 days after injury, the eyes were examined using slit lamp biomicroscopy. Corneal opacification and corneal neovascularization were graded in a masked fashion. The inflammatory response to the injury was evaluated by counting neutrophil cell numbers in the cornea under microscope. There was no significant difference in corneal opacification between the control and OCs treatment groups; however, the corneal neovascularization was significantly less in the eyes treated with OCs as compared to the controls. Also OCs treatment markedly decreased neutrophil infiltration after corneal-limbal alkali injury. Our results suggest that OCs may have a beneficial role in corneal healing after limbal corneal alkali injury by suppressing inflammatory cell infiltrates and corneal neovascularization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA. Electronic address: pbu@lumc.edu.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Anita P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Vin
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Periannan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sethupathi
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Ambrecht
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Yougang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nikolic
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Bouchard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002057:Burns, Chemical / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D016510:Corneal Neovascularization / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D003318:Corneal Opacity / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005126:Eye Burns / Q000139:chemically induced*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D016850:Limbus Corneae / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000166:cytology; D009852:Omentum / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012972:Sodium Hydroxide
keywords: corneal neovascularization; corneal opacification; limbal corneal alkali injury; limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD); omental cells