title: Increased corneal epithelial permeability after overnight sleep.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate factors of ethnicity, sex, age, and diurnal variation on human corneal epithelial permeability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data of corneal epithelial permeability to sodium fluorescein (Pdc) were collected from 374 noncontact lens wearers at various times after awakening throughout the day. Mixed-effect models were developed to investigate the association between Pdc and factors of interest, including time awake (TA), age, sex, ethnicity, and interactions of these factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two models evaluated the "Pdc recovery period" from awakening to 2 hours (Model 1) and the "Pdc plateau" period after TA of 2 hours (Model 2). In Model 1, Pdc declined significantly with length of awake time (P = 0.000), and showed higher Pdc with males (P = 0.098), although this sex difference was not observed after 2 hours (Model 2). Both models showed significantly higher Pdc in Asians than in non-Asians (P = 0.000) and increased Pdc with age (P = 0.048, P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Baseline corneal epithelial barrier function increases after overnight sleep and varies significantly by ethnicity and age.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States.
authors.forename: Tiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States.
authors.forename: Yixiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States.
authors.forename: Heather M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: French
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States Vision Science Graduate Program, University of California, Berkeley, United States.
authors.forename: Meng C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019573:Epithelium, Corneal / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D019793:Fluorescein / Q000378:metabolism; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010539:Permeability; D012737:Sex Factors; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019793:Fluorescein
keywords: age; cornea; corneal epithelial permeability; diurnal; ethnicity; fluorometry; race; sex