The following is the summary of “Corneal stromal repair and regeneration” published in November 2022 issue of Progress in retinal and eye research by Mohan, et al.
The cornea is a highly specialized type of clear, non-vascular, immune-privileged, and densely innervated tissue. It is responsible for approximately 2/3 of the eye’s refraction. Vision impairment can be caused by the corneal function being disrupted as a result of ocular trauma, infections, or genetic causes. At this time, the majority of attempts to restore sight in human patients are concentrated on using a combination of laser and non-laser operations, immunosuppressants, and/or corneal transplants.
In order to lessen the impact that worldwide blindness has, it is of the utmost importance to develop non-surgical treatments that are new, precision-guided, and tissue-targeted treatments, with the goal of boosting corneal repair and regeneration based on mechanistic knowledge. In the past 10 years of research, scientists have discovered that modulating pathological signaling pathways and factors using a variety of therapeutic delivery methods is an effective treatment for corneal disorders such as corneal scar/haze, inflammation, and angiogenesis in a variety of pre-clinical animal models, and that these treatments are ready to be applied to humans.
Recent developments in corneal repair, restoration, and regeneration are the topic of discussion in this article. In this abstract, researchers will provide an overview of evolving approaches and therapeutic modalities that have shown great promise in reviving corneal transparency and function through the use of small drug molecules, gene therapy, nanomedicine, stem cells, trophic factors, exosomes, stromal equivalents, bioengineered stromal scaffolds, tissue adhesives, and 3D bioprinting. These modalities include stem cells, exosomes, stromal equivalents, and bioengineered stromal scaffolds.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1350946222000507
