关键词: 吡非尼酮, 角膜, 碱烧伤, 瘢痕形成

Abstract:

AIM: To study the efficacy of pirfenidone on corneal scarring after acute alkali burn in rat model.  METHODS: Thirty adult healthy SD rats were random selected for the experiment. Ten rats were used as control group. Twenty rats were used to make acute alkali burn model on the left eye, and divided into PFD and PBS group(10 rats each group) after successful modeling. The PFD group was treated with pirfenidone eye drops (3 mg/mL), and PBS group was treated with phosphate buffered saline, the treatments of the left eye were administered 4 times daily and continued for 14 days. At 14 d post-therapy, the corneal haze was analyzed by slit lamp microscope, and then all rats were killed and their left cornea was removed. HE staining was used to observe all groups of the structure of the corneal tissue. The presences of blood vessels in the corneal tissue were observed by immunohistochemical CD34 staining. The expressions of TGF-β1 protein in the cornea were examined by Western blot. RESULTS: The score of corneal haze in PFD group (0.30±0.48) was significantly lower than that in PBS group (3.40±0.52, P<0.05). HE staining showed that there were many inflammatory cell infiltrations and proliferation of fibrous tissue in the corneal tissue of PBS group, while the morphology and structure of corneal tissues in the PFD group had no significant pathological changes. PFD group showed lower microvessel quantity than the PBS group. PFD group down-regulated TGF-β1 protein expression as compared with PBS group. CONCLUSION: PFD can significantly inhibit corneal scarring after acute alkali burn in rat model by down-regulating TGF-β1 expression and inhibiting the corneal neovascularization.

Key words: pirfenidone, cornea, alkali burn, scarring