Shadmani Athar, Wu Albert Y
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Naples, FL, USA.
Omid Salmat Clinic, Firozabad, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Firozabad, Iran.
Eye (Lond). 2025 Apr;39(6):1047-1055. doi: 10.1038/s41433-025-03619-2. Epub 2025 Feb 12.
The cornea serves to protect the eye from external insults and refracts light to the retina. Maintaining ocular homeostasis requires constant epithelial renewal and an efficient healing process following injury. Corneal wound healing is a dynamic process involving several key cell populations and molecular pathways. Immediately after a large corneal epithelial injury involving limbal stem cells, conjunctival epithelial cells migrate toward the center of the wound guided by the newly formed electrical field (EF). Proliferation and transdifferentiation play a critical role in corneal epithelial regeneration. Corneal nerve endings migrate through the EF, connect with the migrating epithelial cells, and provide them with multiple growth factors. Finally, the migrated epithelial cells undergo differentiation, which is also regulated by corneal nerve endings. All these processes require energy and effective cellular cross-talk between different cell lines and extracellular matrix molecules. We provide an overview of the roles and interactions between corneal wound regeneration components that may help develop fascinating new targeted therapeutic strategies to enhance corneal wound healing with less injury-related corneal opacity and neovascularization.
角膜用于保护眼睛免受外部伤害，并将光线折射到视网膜。维持眼部内环境稳定需要持续的上皮更新以及损伤后的有效愈合过程。角膜伤口愈合是一个动态过程，涉及多个关键细胞群体和分子途径。在涉及角膜缘干细胞的大面积角膜上皮损伤后，结膜上皮细胞立即在新形成的电场（EF）引导下向伤口中心迁移。增殖和转分化在角膜上皮再生中起关键作用。角膜神经末梢通过电场迁移，与迁移的上皮细胞连接，并为它们提供多种生长因子。最后，迁移的上皮细胞发生分化，这也受角膜神经末梢调节。所有这些过程都需要能量以及不同细胞系与细胞外基质分子之间有效的细胞间相互作用。我们概述了角膜伤口再生成分之间的作用和相互作用，这可能有助于开发引人入胜的新靶向治疗策略，以增强角膜伤口愈合，同时减少与损伤相关的角膜混浊和新生血管形成。
