Preparation Of Zinc Hyaluronate And Its Application In The Corneal Epithelial Wound Healing

Corneal epithelial injury is one of the most common keratopathy in external ophthalmopathy. The corneal epithelium forms an integral part of the ocular surface and is necessary for maintaining a clear and proper functioning cornea. When compromised, the corneal epithelium lost its barrier function, resulting to corneal erosion even visual loss.Hyaluronic acid (HA), a naturally occurring glycosaminoglycan of the extracellular matrix, plays an important role in the process of wound healing and inflammation. Its viscoelastic properties endow it to be used as a surgical aid in the ophthalmic surgeries to protect the corneal endothelium and maintain the anterior chamber. It is used in the treatment of dry eyes because of its long ocular surface residence time. Experiments in animals have shown that sodium hyaluronate (NaHA) promotes corneal epithelial wound healing by stimulating the migration, adhesion, and proliferation of the corneal epithelium. NaHA eye drops have been used to treat dry eyes and corneal epithelial injury in clinical application.Nevertheless, there were few reports focused on zinc hyaluronate (ZnHA) which may have better effects than NaHA due to the synergic action from Zn ion, a promoter in wound healing. ZnHA may be a stronger agent to the treatment of corneal wound healing.In this article, we made ZnHA from NaHA by ion exchange, prepared ZnHA eye drops, and compared its promotion effects to rabbit corneal wound healing with NaHA eye drops. The main results and conclusions are listed as follows.