Extracellular matrix and growth factors in corneal wound healing.

Healing of corneal wounds is a complex process involving epithelial, keratocyte, and endothelial interactions that are affected by their associations with wound bed matrix and by cytokine availability and activation. The spectrum of possible cellular-matrix-growth factor interactions is indeed great and growing. Several of the significant contributions made during the past year include development of an organotypic organ culture model of the cornea that allows in vitro assembly of the epithelial extracellular matrix-anchoring complex, demonstration of epithelial synthesis of Bowman's layer collagens, demonstration of transforming growth factor-beta 2's inhibition of stromal cell collagenase synthesis, and demonstration of the paracrine pathway of keratinocyte growth factor action in the cornea.