Abstract
Background: Growth factors seem to play a major role in corneal wound healing and TGF‐β seems to be associated with abnormal healing after corneal surgical procedures. Few studies have analysed the role of NGF and TGF‐β on corneal wound healing during pregnancy. The aim of the present study was to create an animal model to evaluate the expression of NGF and TGF‐βs during corneal wound healing in two groups: control and pregnant rats. Methods: Corneal mRNA for NGF and the three isoforms of TGF‐β were analysed by RT‐PCR, in a time‐course experiment on different days after epithelial wounding (2, 7, 14 days) in pregnant and control groups Results: The results show high corneal mRNA expression for NGF and TGF‐β1 without any variation throughout the healing process or pregnancy evolution. However, we detected a different expression of corneal mRNAs for TGF‐β2 and TGF‐β3 in the control group. This data was not detected in the pregnant group. Discussion: Our results suggested that pregnancy could have a relevant role on TGF‐β2 and TGF‐β3 mRNA expression during the corneal wound healing process. Additional research should be performed to corroborate these findings.
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