The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, China; Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
School of Optometry, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Biophys J. 2021 Aug 17;120(16):3498-3507. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.05.010. Epub 2021 May 20.
Myopia is a common ocular disorder with significant alterations in the anterior ocular structure, including the cornea. The cell biophysical phenotype has been proposed to reflect the state of various diseases. However, the biophysical properties of corneal cells have not been characterized during myopia progression and their relationship with myopia remains unknown. This study characterizes the biophysical properties of corneal cells in normal, myopic, and recovered conditions, using two classical myopia models. Surprisingly, myopic corneal cells considerably reduce F-actin and microtubule content and cellular stiffness and generate elevated traction force compared with control cells. When myopia is restored to the healthy state, these biophysical properties are partially or fully restored to the levels of control cells. Furthermore, the level of chromatin condensation is significantly increased in the nucleus of myopic corneal cells and reduced to a level similar to healthy cells after recovery. These findings demonstrate that the reversible biophysical alterations of corneal cells reflect myopia progression, facilitating the study of the role of corneal cell biophysics in myopia.
近视是一种常见的眼部疾病，会引起眼球前部结构的显著改变，包括角膜。细胞生物物理表型被认为反映了各种疾病的状态。然而，在近视进展过程中，角膜细胞的生物物理特性尚未得到描述，它们与近视的关系也不清楚。本研究使用两种经典的近视模型，对正常、近视和恢复状态下的角膜细胞的生物物理特性进行了描述。令人惊讶的是，与对照细胞相比，近视角膜细胞的 F-肌动蛋白和微管含量以及细胞硬度显著降低，并产生更高的牵引力。当近视恢复到健康状态时，这些生物物理特性部分或完全恢复到对照细胞的水平。此外，近视角膜细胞核内的染色质凝聚水平显著升高，恢复后降低到与健康细胞相似的水平。这些发现表明，角膜细胞的可逆生物物理改变反映了近视的进展，有助于研究角膜细胞生物物理学在近视中的作用。
