Nano-patterned Hydrogel for Corneal Wound Healing
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Date
2019-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Corneal wounds are the most common medical trauma treated in emergency departments. Natural corneal wound healing process can be too slow to completely heal the wound, and can lead to serious vision damage. However, current standard treatments do not actively enhance the wound healing cascade, but rather aim only to minimize pain and infection. Thus, new treatment modalities to facilitate corneal wound healing are needed for corneal wounds.
The goal of this study was to design hydrogels, which can be used to create contact lenses with nanopatterns printed on the surface to enhance corneal wound healing. Nanopatterned surfaces were selected as wound healing modalities for their known effects of promoting cell migration, proliferation, and orientation in the wound healing process. Effects of nanopatterned hydrogel lenses on in vitro corneal wound healing of human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) were investigated. It was hypothesized that nanopatterned hydrogel lenses would significantly increase the wound closure rate of HCECs compared to hydrogel lenses with no pattern. Hydrogel lenses with different materials, specifically, agarose and polyetheylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) with nanopatterns were tested in a transwell wound healing model. HCECs were cultured as monolayers on a transwell membrane, and a gap of 500 μm was created to represent a wound on the cornea. Nanopatterned hydrogel lenses were then layered on top of the HCECs with the patterned surface facing the cells. Wound closure was then measured by fluorescent microscopy over a 24 hour culture time.
Nanopatterned hydrogel lenses (both agarose and PEGDA) significantly improved wound closure compared to nonpatterned lenses and no lens conditions. Both agarose and PEGDA lenses, either patterned or nonpatterned, significantly enhanced wound closure compared to the no lens condition, yet PEGDA was more effective. Overall, these data successfully establish a clinically relevant model for studying corneal wound healing. Further optimization should be performed to develop nanopatterned PEGDA contact lens as the potential method for treating corneal wounds.
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nanopattern, wound healing, cell migration, contact lens, hydrogel