Expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α and aquaporin-1 in the cornea after alkali burn / 眼科新进展

ABSTRACT

Objective To detect the expressions of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and aquaporin-1 (AQP1) in the alkali-burn cornea and investigate the roles of HIF-1α and AQP1 in alkali-burn mechanisms.Methods Totally 48 healthy adult female Kunming mice were selected,and the left eyes were treated with saline as the control group,and the model of corneal alkali burn was established with concentration of 1 mol · L-1 NaOH on the right eyes,and then these rats were randomly divided into 1-day,4-day,7-day and 14-day group.The expressions of HIF-1α and AQP1 in the cornea were detected using immunofluorescence and qRT-PCR after corneal alkali burn model was successful.Results In the control group,HIF-1 α was expressed in the corneal epithelial basement membrane,but it was increased in the corneal epithelium layer 1 day after alkali burn,and it was expressed in the corneal epithelium layer and stroma 4 days,and peaked 7 days after alkali burn;AQP1 was weakly expressed only in the endothelial layer in the control group,but it was increased in the corneal endothelial layer 1 day after alkali burn,and it was strongly expressed in the endothelial cell layer and the stroma 4 days and 7 days after alkali burn.qRT-PCR indicated that the relative expression level of HIF-1α mRNA was 269.70 ± 15.68 in 1-day group,350.50 ± 67.26 in 4-day group and 272.10 ±6.88 in 7-day group,respectively,which all were higher than that in the control group (188.70 ± 33.99),with significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).In addition,the relative expression level of AQP1 mRNA was 61.90 ± 5.45 in 1-day group and 48.34 ± 1.33 in 7-day group,which were significantly higher than that in the control group (36.43 ± 3.95),with statistical difference (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Alkali burn can cause the pathological changes in the cornea,and HIF-1 α and AQP1 involve in corneal injury after alkali burn.