Sanie-Jahromi Fatemeh, Mohsenzadeh Amir Hossein, Namjoyan Foroogh, Gharegezloo Zahra, Nejabat Mahmood
Poostchi Ophthalmology Research Center, Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Exp Eye Res. 2023 Oct;235:109641. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2023.109641. Epub 2023 Sep 9.
Corneal activated keratocytes (CAKs) -representing the injured phenotype of corneal stromal cells- are associated with several corneal diseases. Inflammatory cytokines are the key drivers of CAK formation subsequently leading to fibrogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the effect of adlay seed extract on the expression of genes involved in inflammation (IL-6, IL-1b, LIF) and fibrogenesis (TGF-β) in CAK cells. CAKs (10 cells/10 cm) were exposed to methanolic (MeOH) and residual (Res) extract of adlay seed (1 mg/ml, 24 h). The control group received the vehicle solution without extract at the same time and condition. Then, RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, and real-time PCR were performed to quantify the relative expression of IL-6, IL-1b, LIF, and TGF-β in the treated vs. control cells. This study showed that the MeOH extract of adlay seed could significantly downregulate the expression of IL-6 and IL-1b in the CAKs, while the Res extract led to a significant decrease in TGF-β gene expression. We showed that CAK treatment with adlay seed extract could decrease the expression of genes related to inflammation and fibrogenesis. However, the genes to be targeted depended on the method of extraction. This proof-of-concept study could provide groundwork for the treatment of corneal stromal diseases and ocular regenerative medicine in the future.
角膜活化角膜细胞（CAK）——代表角膜基质细胞的损伤表型——与多种角膜疾病相关。炎性细胞因子是CAK形成的关键驱动因素，随后导致纤维化。本研究旨在探讨薏仁籽提取物对CAK细胞中炎症相关基因（IL-6、IL-1β、白血病抑制因子（LIF））和纤维化相关基因（转化生长因子-β（TGF-β））表达的影响。将CAK细胞（10⁶个细胞/10厘米培养皿）暴露于薏仁籽的甲醇提取物（MeOH）和残留提取物（Res）（1毫克/毫升，24小时）。对照组在相同时间和条件下接受不含提取物的溶剂。然后，进行RNA提取、cDNA合成和实时聚合酶链反应（PCR），以定量处理组与对照组细胞中IL-6、IL-1β、LIF和TGF-β的相对表达。本研究表明，薏仁籽的MeOH提取物可显著下调CAK细胞中IL-6和IL-1β的表达，而Res提取物可导致TGF-β基因表达显著降低。我们表明，用薏仁籽提取物处理CAK细胞可降低与炎症和纤维化相关基因的表达。然而，靶向的基因取决于提取方法。这项概念验证研究可为未来角膜基质疾病的治疗和眼再生医学提供基础。
