| Purpose: To investigate the effect of trehalose on ocular surface epithelial disorders induced by desiccation, the potency of trehalose and serum, the efficacy of which has been well documented in clinical application, were compared.
Methods: Mice ocular surface epithelial disorders was induced by exposure of murine eyes to continuous controlled low-humidity air velocity, which accelerated the tear evaporation. During desiccation, one eye of each mouse was treated with 100mM trehalose eyedrops or 20% autologous serum, and in the other eye a drop of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was instilled as the control. The resultant changes in corneal barrier function by means of corneal fluorescein staining , corneal scanning electron microscopy, and histopathologic examination of cornea and conjunctiva were analyzed. The apoptosis in the epithelia was determined by immunohistochemical assay for active caspase-3.
Results: At 14 days after the treatment, the corneal fluorescein staining scores, the number of ruffling and desquamated cells on the apical corneal epithelium , as well as the apoptosis cells on ocular surface epithelia had improved significantly with100mM trehalose eyedrops compared with the autologous serum eyedrops. In contrast, the thickness of the corneal epithelial cells layer, and the degree of squamous metaplasia in conjunctival epithelium shown by loss of goblet cells, thicking of conjunctival cell layer, was moderate in100mM trehalose application compared with the 20% serum application after 14 days of eyedrops treatment.
Conclusion: These results demonstrated that trehalose could ameliorate the appearance of ocular surface epithelial disorders due to desiccation through suppression of apoptosis. Trehalose have a complementary role with autologous serum in maintaining ocular surface health.
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