Treatment Of Fungal Keratitis By Corneal Cross-linking In Mice

Objective To observation the riboflavin-Ultraviolet A corneal cross-linking for the treatment of fungal keratitis in mice and evaluate the mechanism.Materials and methodsSelected 96 healthy and 8-10-week-old male C57BL/6J mice of SPF level, These mice weighing between 27-30 g. Select the left cornea with a sterile scalpel blade doing cross hatch, the depth of scratches arrive shallow matrix. The left corneal were inoculated with Fusarium solani using a sterile needle to establish a mouse model of fungal keratitis, the right eye is normal. After the successful model 24 h, the models mice were randomly divided into CXL treatment groups and no CXL treatment groups with 48 mice in each group according to the random number table. The treatment group of mice conducting riboflavin-UVA corneal cross-linking. Non-treatment group received no treatment. To evaluation CXL treatment of fungal keratitis in mice, the corneal ulcer size, inflammatory response and clinical score were performed for all the eyes at the 24 h, 36 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h and 120 h by the slit lamp microscope and anterior segment photography. Then the mouse are sacrificed and cornea I tissues were obtained at each time point for six and MMP-9 activity was measured. CXL treatment after 12h(Model 36h), we taked CXL treatment group and the untreated group corneal tissue each 6, there corneas was cut, grind and cultured to observe the growth of fungi.Results 1. After the Fusarium solani keratitis model success 24 h, the corneal infiltrates white, hypopyon and atellite lesions were observed by the slit lamp microscope. A large number of fungal hyphae and inflammatory cell infiltration were observed by the confocal microscope.2. By the slit lamp microscope, we can observation the CXL treatment group compared to the untreated group was significantly reduced corneal ulcer lesions, ulcers lighter, shorter duration, corneal perforation rate. The clinical grading scores in CXL treatment group were significantly lower compared to untreated group, the difference was statistically significant(P < 0.05).3. Corneal fungal culture at 36 h, the fugal began to fungal growth. foster CXL treatment group and the untreated group at 48 h fungal colony counts, two counts of fungal colonies was no significant difference(P > 0.05).4. Activity Assay found CXL treatment group MMP-9 activity was significantly lower than the non-treatment group, the difference was statistically significant(P < 0.05).Conclusion1. Riboflavin-UVA corneal cross-linking can treatment Fusarium solani keratitis. After CXL treatment, the corneal ulcer area reduced, reducing the clinical score and the damage to the tissue. However, it may be no significant role in the killing Fusarium solani aspects.2. Riboflavin-UVA corneal cross-linking significantly reduced the activity of MMP-9 within cornea during fungal keratitis, which may be after CXL treatment of corneal tissue damage mitigation reasons.