Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the protective effects of thymosin β4 (Tβ4) on ethanol injured human corneal keratocytes (HCKs).

Methods

HCKs and BALB/c mice were chosen as the study subject. Ethanol was used to treat the cells and corneal stroma of mice to build the ethanol injured model in vitro and vivo respectively. CCK-8 was used to evaluate the cell metabolic activity. DCFH-DA was used to detect the intracellular reactive oxygen species level. TUNEL was chose to detect the cell apoptosis rate. The cell proliferation and migration were investigated by using wound healing insert. Wound healing of corneal surface and stroma was observed by using fluorescein sodium eyedrop and HE stain. RT-qPCR, ELISA, and immunostaining were performed to detect gene and protein expression in keratocytes or corneal stroma tissue of mice.

Results

Ethanol induced oxidative stress injury and cell apoptosis on HCKs, and Tβ4 can alleviate it by up-regulating the expression of Bcl-2, catalase, and CuZnSOD, and inhibiting the expression of Caspase-3. Tβ4 promotes the proliferation of HCKs and the process of corneal wound healing. It may relevant to the up-regulated expression of Ki67.

Conclusions

Our study established an ethanol-injured corneal stroma model in both vitro and vivo. The present study confirmed that Tβ4 play a protective effect on the reconstruction process of ethanol-injured corneal stroma.

Details

Title
Protection effect of thymosin β4 on ethanol injury in corneal stromal keratocyte
Author
Liu, Jinghua; Chen, Guo; Peng Hao; Wang, Peihong; Li, Linghan; Wang, Yuchuan; Li, Xuan
Pages
1-10
Section
Research
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
14712415
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2630424545
Copyright
© 2022. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.