The influence of amniotic membrane transplantation to corneal limbal stem cells of alkali burned rats

Abstract

Objective To observe the influence of amniotic membrane(AM) transplantation to corneal limbal stem cells of alkali burned rats. Methods Corneal alkali burned animal models were established with 40 SD rats and only one eye was involved. The animal models were divided randomly to two groups, the experimental group and control group, with 20 eyes in each group. The experimental group received frash AM transplantation. No treatment was applied in the control group. We observe the ocular manifestations. The corneal limbal tissues were drawn at 1 week, 2 weeks ,3 weeks and 4 weeks postoperatively.The expression of P63 protein around the corneal limbus was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results P63 expressed in corneal limbal stem cells in both experimental group and control group which located in the cellular nucleus of limbal basal epithelia. The expression of P63 was higher in the experimental group than the control group. There was statistically significant differences between them (P ＜ 0. 05 ). The expression of P63 had a tendency to decline linearly with the prolongation of burning time. Conclusion AM transplantation after alkali injury can promote the proliferation and differentiation of corneal limbal stem cells and help the recovery of corneal epithelia. Key words: burn, alkaline; amniotic membrane transplantation; stem cells, corneal limbal