These data provide the first report of in vitro investigations of CECs from genetically engineered pigs and suggest that pig corneas may provide an acceptable alternative to human corneas for clinical transplantation.

These EP-induced phenotypic changes in myofibroblasts indicate the potential of EP as a therapeutic agent in corneal wound healing.

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antiinflammatory effect of ethyl pyruvate (EP) in a mouse model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced corneal inflammation.METHODS. LPS was injected intrastromally into the corneas of C57BL/6 mice followed by treatment with a solution of 2.5% EP in 0.2% hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) every 90 minutes during the course of 12 hours. Prednisolone acetate 1% solution (PRED FORTE) was used as a positive control. Mice were sacrificed after 3 days, and corneas were examined by in vivo confocal microscopy and analyzed for infiltrated cells by flow cytometry. Gr-1, TNF-a, and pNF-jB-p65 were detected immunohistochemically, and TNF-a, IL-6, and IL-1b levels were quantified by ELISA.RESULTS. LPS-induced haze in mice corneas was decreased by 2-fold upon EP treatment; however, it was not changed upon PRED FORTE treatment. Flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry showed infiltration of leukocytes in the LPS-treated corneas; among the infiltrated cells, neutrophils (Gr-1þ and CD11bþ) and macrophages (F4/80þ and CD11bþ) were 3403.4-and 4.5-fold higher in number, respectively, than in vehicle-treated control corneas. EP or PRED FORTE treatment of LPS-injected corneas decreased the number of neutrophils 7.5-and 7.2-fold and macrophages by 5.6-and 3.5-fold, respectively. Both EP and PRED FORTE decreased TNF-a and IL-6 expression considerably, and to a lesser extent IL-1b expression, in the LPS-treated corneas.CONCLUSIONS. The present study demonstrated that EP reduces LPS-induced inflammation in the cornea and thus may have a potential therapeutic application in the inhibition of corneal inflammation. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53:6589-6599)