N-acetylglucose aminidase activity in corneoscleral ulceration after severe eye burns.

In some patients with severe burns, major problems were delayed regeneration of the surface epithelium, extensive ulceration of the sclera near the limbus, subsequent corneal ulceration, and subconjunctival scarring. Human tissues surrounding ulcerations in severe eye burns were obtained from surgical interventions in 12 such patients. High activities of the lysosomal marker enzyme N-acetyl-glucose aminidase were found. As is known from histological examinations, these tissues do not represent regeneration of conjunctiva, but rather inflammatory proliferation. The tissues adjacent to corneoscleral ulceration release large amounts of lysosomal destructive enzymes. The rather simple assay of the activity of the N-acetylglucose aminidase proved useful in clinical cases to assess the activity of the inflammation of eye burns and to estimate the efficacy of the therapy applied.