Posters

The anti-scarring role of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide on cornea epithelial-stromal injury – an eye-on-a-chip study

Poster Details

First Author: H.William HONG KONG

Co Author(s):    K. Shih   Y. Chan   A. Lo   S. Poon           

Abstract Details

Purpose:

The study is to assess whether Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) solution can be a novel therapy in modulating keratocytes differentiation after corneal epithelial- stromal injury in an eye-on-a-chip model.

Setting:

Stromal scarring of the cornea is the fourth common cause of global blindness, which contributes to 5.1% of the cases. The outcome of stromal scarring primarily depends on keratocytes differentiation. Under the action of transforming growth factor-beta 1, quiescent keratocytes will phenotypically differentiate into opaque myofibroblasts, leading to corneal haze.

Methods:

A 3D model made of PDMS elastomers is created to mimic the anatomy and physiology of the corneal stroma. The chip consists of a cell culture chamber and is connected to two channels where medium or LBP is supplied. Human keratocytes are suspended in collagen to form a three-dimensional hydrogel construct. Cells are pre-treated with 2 mg/mL LBP or 10-4M Dexamethasone for 24 hours, followed by 10 ng/mL TGF-1 for another 24 hours.

Results:

Cells pre-treated with LBP showed a decreased expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin, which is a prominent marker of myofibroblasts. Pro-fibrotic proteins such as vimentin, collagen II and collagen III are as well reduced. Cell-laden hydrogel pre-treated with LBP revealed no significant contraction compared to that in control group (p=0.29) while group pre-treated with TGF- showed increased contraction by 17.3% (p<0.001). The stiffness of the hydrogel treated with TGF-1 alone had an increase by 3.55-fold (p=0.02) yet that in the LBP group showed no significant difference compared to that in control group (p=0.9964)

Conclusions:

LBP can be a potential topical therapy to prevent corneal scarring prior to surgery. Optimized LBP concentration can potentially lead to fewer adverse effects compared to standard pharmacological treatments while minimizing keratocyte differentiation.

Financial Disclosure:

None