<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The corneal epithelium (CE) forms the outermost layer of the cornea. Despite its thickness of only 50 μm, the CE plays a key role as an initial barrier against any insults to the eye and contributes to the light refraction onto the retina required for clear vision. In the event of an injury, the cornea is equipped with many strategies contributing to competent wound healing, including angiogenic and immune privileges, and mechanotransduction. Various factors, including growth factors, keratin, cytokines, integrins, crystallins, basement membrane, and gap junction proteins are involved in CE wound healing and serve as markers in the healing process. Studies of CE wound healing are advancing rapidly in tandem with the rise of corneal bioengineering, which employs limbal epithelial stem cells as the primary source of cells utilizing various types of biomaterials as substrates.</p>
</abstract>

The corneal epithelium (CE) forms the outermost layer of the cornea. Despite its thickness of only 50 μm, the CE plays a key role as an initial barrier against any insults to the eye and contributes to the light refraction onto the retina required for clear vision. In the event of an injury, the cornea is equipped with many strategies contributing to competent wound healing, including angiogenic and immune privileges, and mechanotransduction. Various factors, including growth factors, keratin, cytokines, integrins, crystallins, basement membrane, and gap junction proteins are involved in CE wound healing and serve as markers in the healing process. Studies of CE wound healing are advancing rapidly in tandem with the rise of corneal bioengineering, which employs limbal epithelial stem cells as the primary source of cells utilizing various types of biomaterials as substrates.

Wound healing of the corneal epithelium: a review

Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine

Asian Biomedicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Wound healing of the corneal epithelium: a review"}

The corneal epithelium (CE) forms the outermost layer of the cornea. Despite its thickness of only 50 μm, the CE plays a key role as an initial barrier against...

Classification	Factor	Function
Growth factors	EGF	Promotes cell migration and proliferation
	EGF	Enhances wound closure
	HGF	Enhances cell migration
		Upregulates cell proliferation
		Suppresses corneal inflammation
	KGF	Induces corneal epithelial cell proliferation
	KGF	Enhances stem cells division
	IGF-1	Has synergistic effect with substance P for epithelial cell migration and cell attachment
	IGF-2	Induces differentiation of limbal stem cells into epithelial cells
Keratin	KRT3/12 or K3/12	Differentiation marker for terminally differentiated corneal epithelium
Keratin	KRT3/12 or K3/12	Structural and mechanical support of the epithelium
Cytokines	IL-1	Master regulator in the corneal epithelial wound healing process
	IL-1	Accelerates wound healing
	TNF-α	Pro-inflammatory cytokines
Basement membrane proteins	Type IV collagen	Aides cell adhesion, migration and differentiation
	Laminin	Promotes corneal epithelial cells adhesion
	Perlecan	Structural support for epithelial basement membrane
	Nidogen	Provide link between components of basement membrane
Gap junction protein	Cx43	Mediates intercellular communication
Integrins	α2, α3, α6, αV, β1, and β4	Modulate the epithelial shape during migration
Integrins	α2, α3, α6, αV, β1, and β4	Ligand for fibronectin, laminin

Wound healing of the corneal epithelium: a review

Article Category: Review

Publié en ligne: 29 oct. 2021

Pages: 199 - 212

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/abm-2021-0026

Mots clés
cornea, epithelium, corneal, markers, regeneration, wound healing

© 2021 Norzana Abd Ghafar et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Factors in corneal epithelial wound healing and their functions

Wound healing of the corneal epithelium: a review

Article Category: Review

Publié en ligne: 29 oct. 2021

Pages: 199 - 212

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/abm-2021-0026

Mots cléscornea, epithelium, corneal, markers, regeneration, wound healing

© 2021 Norzana Abd Ghafar et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Factors in corneal epithelial wound healing and their functions

Mots clés
cornea, epithelium, corneal, markers, regeneration, wound healing