Summary of recent investigations on molecular mechanisms of altered diabetic corneal wound healing after injury
| Author | Model | Comparison | Findings |
| Yamamoto et al1 | STZ-treated diabetic rat. | Comparison of cornea epithelial lumican levels at baseline and at 0 hour, 14 hours and 25 hours after the corneal abrasion between STZ-treated rats and controls. | Differential lumican expression levels in the cornea after injury in STZ-treated mice compared with controls. |
| Huang et al3 | STZ-treated diabetic mice. | Comparison of occludin expression in the corneal epithelium of the STZ-treated mice versus controls 16 and 48 hours after cornea epithelial debridement. | Weaker occludin expression levels in corneal epithelium of STZ-treated mice compared with controls. |
| Royer et al40 | Rag2 knockout (OT-II) T-cell receptor transgenic mice. | Comparison of corneas harvested from mice 6 days after scratch injury, ragweed pollen–induced allergy or herpes simplex virus type 1 infection versus healthy tissue controls. | Corneal epithelial cells exhibited myeloid cell lineage characteristics. |
| Yan et al43 | DIO diabetic mice. | Comparison of immune cell count and level of secretory interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (sIL-1Ra) after cornea epithelial injury in diabetic corneas versus controls. | A reduction in neutrophil and natural killer (NK) cell infiltration during wound closure response in diabetic corneas is associated with lower levels of IL-1Ra. |
| Kneer et al2 | DIO diabetic mice | Comparison of P2×7 expression and localization at baseline and 12 hours after injury in diabetic mice versus controls. | A significant reduction in cornea sub-basal nerve density is noted in diabetic mice compared with controls. P2×7 was significantly overexpressed in the cornea epithelium of diabetic mice compared with controls. |
| Dai et al11 | db/db mice (in vivo) and trigeminal ganglion (TG) neuronal cells (in vitro). | In vivo – comparison of NPFF expression in db/db mice compared with controls. In vitro – dendrite length of TG sensory neurons in hyperglycemic conditions versus controls, with or without exogenous NPFF. | NPFF expression was significantly lower in the TG tissues in diabetic mice compared with controls. |
DIO, diet-induced obesity; IL, interleukin; NPFF, neuropeptide FF; P2×7, P2X purinoceptor 7; sIL-1Ra, secreted form of IL-1 receptor antagonist; STZ, streptozocin.