Institute of Functional and Clinical Anatomy, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Institute of Functional and Clinical Anatomy, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany; Department of Anatomy, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
Ann Anat. 2021 Mar;234:151664. doi: 10.1016/j.aanat.2020.151664. Epub 2021 Jan 2.
To evaluate the density and distribution of conjunctival goblet cells in mice without clinical evidence of ocular surface diseases.
Immediately after euthanasia of C57BL/6 wild-type mice, the eyes including eyelids were removed and fixed in paraformaldehyde. Entire eyeballs and eyelids were cut in series along the sagittal axis from nasal to temporal on a microtome and then stained with Periodic Acid-Schiff acid to visualize the goblet cells. At each section stained in this way, the conjunctival goblet cells of the entire upper and lower lid conjunctiva were counted by light microscopy. Additional (transmission electron microscopy) (TEM)-Analysis on ultrathin sections was performed to evaluate morphological differences.
The total number of conjunctival goblet cells differs markedly between individual animals. Categorisation into upper eyelid (UL) and lower eyelid (LL) and into regions (nasal, middle, temporal) revealed a significant increase of goblet cells from nasal to temporal in the UL and a significant decrease in the LL.
The distribution of conjunctival goblet cells in mice differs considerably from humans and between individual animals. Therefore, precise selection of sampling and methods are needed to obtain comparable data. We recommend to use the middle region of the conjunctiva of UL/LL for goblet cell studies in mice. These findings are of particular interest for dry eye mouse models as well as pharmacological studies on mice with influence on their goblet cells.
评估无临床眼表面疾病证据的小鼠结膜杯状细胞的密度和分布。
在 C57BL/6 野生型小鼠安乐死后，立即取出包括眼睑在内的眼睛，并固定在多聚甲醛中。在显微镜切片机上沿矢状轴从鼻侧向颞侧将整个眼球和眼睑连续切开，然后用过碘酸希夫酸染色以显示杯状细胞。在以这种方式染色的每个切片上，通过光学显微镜对整个上、下眼睑结膜的结膜杯状细胞进行计数。对超薄切片进行额外的（透射电子显微镜）（TEM）-分析，以评估形态差异。
结膜杯状细胞的总数在个体之间差异显著。将其分为上眼睑（UL）和下眼睑（LL）以及区域（鼻侧、中间、颞侧），结果显示 UL 从鼻侧向颞侧的杯状细胞数量显著增加，而 LL 则显著减少。
小鼠结膜杯状细胞的分布与人类和个体之间存在显著差异。因此，需要精确选择采样和方法才能获得可比的数据。我们建议在 UL/LL 的结膜中部进行杯状细胞研究。这些发现对于干眼症小鼠模型以及对其杯状细胞有影响的药理学研究特别感兴趣。
