XINYAN CHEN^1,2, HAIXIA ZHANG^1,2, LIN LI^1,2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.4, pp. 1023-1032, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.014873

Abstract Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) has revolutionized the treatment of keratoconus in the past decade. In order to evaluate the 3-month effects of CXL on corneal fibroblasts, a longitudinal study at the tissue and cellular level was carried out with a total of 16 rabbits that underwent CXL, deepithelialization (DEP), or non-treatment (control) and kept for 1 to 3 months. The duration of corneal stromal remodeling after CXL was determined by examining the differentiation, apoptosis, and number changes of keratocytes in tissue sections from animals 1, 2, or 3 months post-treatment. Upon the finish of tissue remodeling, separate rabbits were used… More >

Xiaona Li^1,*, Sijia Wang¹, Jie Song¹, Yixian Qin², Jizhong Yang³, Rui He^4,*, Weiyi Chen¹

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.18, No.1, pp. 11-19, 2021, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2021.014071

Abstract The cornea is a load-bearing tissue. Lower biomechanical properties in the local tissue of keratoconic cornea evoke mechanical stress increase. Inflammatory cytokines have been shown to be over-expressed in patients with keratoconus. However, how mechanical stimuli are involved in the production of inflammatory cytokines in keratoconus remains unclear. The objective of the study is to determine the role of mechanical stretch in the regulation of inflammatory cytokines and the underlying mechanisms in keratoconus. Human keratoconic fibroblasts (hKCFs) were subjected to 12% cyclic mechanical stretch at 0.1 Hz or in static conditions as controls. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate and… More >