Wound healing of the corneal epithelium: a review

Abstract

The corneal epithelium (CE) forms the outermost layer of the cornea. Despite its thickness of only 50 μm, the CE plays a key role as an initial barrier against any insults to the eye and contributes to the light refraction onto the retina required for clear vision. In the event of an injury, the cornea is equipped with many strategies contributing to competent wound healing, including angiogenic and immune privileges, and mechanotransduction. Various factors, including growth factors, keratin, cytokines, integrins, crystallins, basement membrane, and gap junction proteins are involved in CE wound healing and serve as markers in the healing process. Studies of CE wound healing are advancing rapidly in tandem with the rise of corneal bioengineering, which employs limbal epithelial stem cells as the primary source of cells utilizing various types of biomaterials as substrates.

Aberrations in Cell Signaling Quantified in Diabetic Murine Globes after Injury

“…Our laboratory has developed methodologies to image intact globes that allow us to examine how cells communicate with each other in their proper 3-D environment [ 1 , 2 ]. The corneal epithelium is the outermost structure of the eye and has a protective role, as it is subjected to a wide range of environmental stimuli and acts as a barrier to prevent damage to underlying structures [ 3 ]. In corneal wound healing, epithelial cells move as a contiguous sheet.…”

“…In corneal wound healing, epithelial cells move as a contiguous sheet. The motility is caused by protrusion of lamellipodia at the leading edge of the wound, requiring a continual assembly and disassembly of focal adhesions that occur during extension, retraction, and maturation of nascent adhesions [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Comparing the signaling profiles recorded from heathy and diabetic mouse models will give insight regarding why wound healing may be impaired.…”