Molecular Mechanism In Mouse Cornea Wound Healing

Purpose To establish a murine model for studying the gene expression spectrum in corneal wound healing. And to observe the changes of the proliferation and fibrosis regulators in the early stage of the wound healing cascades.Methods Firstly to create an animal model, with the prism needle, perforating through the cornea, then evaluate it by HE staining and IHC for TGF-β1, TGF-β 2, α -SM. Collect the cornea from the mouse model on day 3 and day 14, hybridize in microarray., read, classify and analysis the data. Do RT-PCR for TGF- β 2, CTGF, G0/G1 switch gene 2, make sure how they work in the early stage of the wound healing.Results Perforating through the cornea using the prism needle is the most effective methods in the three injury modes. There are 298 genes identified. Cellular skeleton/ extra celluar matrix is one of the most popular catalog among them, myosin.serine protease inhibitor, retinol binding protein 4 are under-expressed for more than 10 folds. TGF-β2, CTGF and G0/G1 switch gene2 go a temporary upregulation but down to normal level in 72 hours, the same as the 72h microarray show.Conclusion perforating through the cornea using the prism needle is an effective animal model for corneal wound healing. The potential target may be those unknown genes. The optimal timing for intervene TGF- β2, CTGF and G0/G1 switch gene must be in 24h post-injury. Gene microarray is a useful and successful technology for studying the corneal wound healing.