Tarsal Glandular Hyperplasia in Pachydermoperiostosis and Implications for Ptosis Correction.

Pachydermoperiostosis is a rare genetic disease that causes major bone and skin changes. Severe ptosis is a prominent finding in this peculiar condition. We report here 2 patients with typical features of pachydermoperiostosis. Their tarsal plates were enlarged and infiltrated by sebaceous gland tissue. One patient also displayed diffuse intratarsal lacrimal gland hyperplasia. As far as we know, this is the first report of ectopic lacrimal tissue in pachydermoperiostosis. Tarsal and skin morphologic changes should be addressed during ptosis correction in these patients.

A new corneal epithelial biomimetic 3D model for in vitro eye toxicity assessment: Development, characterization and applicability.

In vitro eye toxicity assessment using reconstructed corneal epithelial models has emerged highlighting its applicability domain for Classification and Labeling of products and chemicals. However, due to bureaucratic issues, such models are not commercially available in Brazil and Latin America. In this work, we developed, characterized and evaluated the applicability of a new corneal epithelial biomimetic model using a cell lineage for in vitro eye toxicity assessment. The reconstructed tissue was obtained through the cultivation of HaCaT cells in an air-liquid interface, which presented morphology and biomarkers expression such as cytokeratin, CD44, and Ki-67 similar to human tissue. Furthermore, tissue viability was evaluated after exposure of the epithelial model to isolated chemicals from different Globally Harmonized System (GHS) eye irritation categories, and it has been demonstrated to be a suitable endpoint for classification of test materials, allowing discrimination between irritant and non-irritant chemicals. Furthermore, the model showed suitability for testing "real-life mixtures", once it identified irritant products between the analyzed eyebrow henna samples commercially labeled as non-irritants. This reproducible and low-cost epithelial corneal model presents features very important for Brazil and South America for R&D&I with no unnecessary animal experimentation.