The Role of Multisystem Disease in Composition of Autologous Serum tears and ocular surface symptom improvement.

PURPOSE: Autologous serum tears (AST) contain growth factors and vitamins similar to those in healthy tears and are an effective treatment option for ocular surface disease. This study determined the differences in composition of AST in patients with systemic diseases versus patients with localized ocular surface diseases and the effects on ocular surface symptom improvement. METHOD: An observational study was performed on 53 patients with either systemic diseases (Group I) or localized ocular surface diseases (Group II) who were prescribed AST. Concentrations of epidermal growth factor (EGF), interleukin 8 (IL-8), fibronectin, vitamin A, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were determined through ELISA assays from patients in both groups. The Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores were calculated prior to and 6 weeks after initiation of treatment with AST for new patients. RESULTS: The average concentration of EGF in Group I (29.39 pg/ml ± 52.85 pg/ml) was significantly lower than in Group II (88.04 pg/ml ±113.75 pg/ml) (p < 0.05). Levels of fibronectin, IL-8, and vitamin A were similar in both groups. There was a 24% reduction in OSDI score 6 weeks after initiation in Group I compared to a 36% reduction reported in Group II (p = 0.065). The OSDI score was reduced significantly after the treatment in all subjects (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Serum tears are a promising therapy for management of ocular surface disease and associated symptoms. The differences between levels of EGF in patients with localized ocular surface disease and systemic inflammatory disease may account for differences in therapeutic outcome.

Mitochondrial-Targeted Antioxidants Attenuate TGF-ß2 Signaling in Human Trabecular Meshwork Cells.

Purpose: POAG is a progressive optic neuropathy that is currently the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. While the underlying cause of POAG remains unclear, TGF-ß2-dependent remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) within the trabecular meshwork (TM) microenvironment is considered an early pathologic consequence associated with impaired aqueous humor (AH) outflow and elevated IOP. Early studies have also demonstrated markedly elevated levels of oxidative stress markers in AH from POAG patients along with altered expression of antioxidant defenses. Here, using cultured primary or transformed human TM cells, we investigated the role oxidative stress plays at regulating TGF-ß2-mediated remodeling of the ECM. Methods: Primary or transformed (GTM3) human TM cells conditioned in serum-free media were incubated in the absence or presence of TGF-ß2 and relative changes in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured using oxidation-sensitive fluorogenic dyes CellROX green or 6-carboxy-2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (carboxy-H2DCFDA). TGF-ß2-mediated changes in the content of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and collagen types 1α1 (COL1A1) and 4α1 (COL4A1) mRNA or collagens I and IV isoform proteins were determined in the absence or presence of mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants (XJB-5-131 or MitoQ) and quantified by quantitative PCR or by immunoblot and immunocytochemistry. Smad-dependent canonic signaling was determined by immunoblot, whereas Smad-dependent transcriptional activity was quantified using a Smad2/3-responsive SBE-luciferase reporter assay. Results: Primary or transformed human TM cells cultured in the presence of TGF-ß2 (5 ng/mL; 2 hours) exhibited marked increases in CellROX or fluorescein fluorescence. Consistent with previous reports, challenging cultured human TM cells with TGF-ß2 elicited measurable increases in regulated Smad2/3 signaling as well as increases in CTGF, COL1A1, and COL4A1 mRNA and collagen protein content. Pretreating human TM cells with mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants XJB-5-131 (10 µM) or MitoQ (10 nM) attenuated TGF-ß2-mediated changes in Smad-dependent transcriptional activity. Conclusions: The multifunctional profibrotic cytokine TGF-ß2 elicits a marked increase in oxidative stress in human TM cells. Mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants attenuate TGF-ß2-mediated changes in Smad-dependent transcriptional activity, including marked reductions in CTGF and collagen isoform gene and protein expression. These findings suggest that mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants, when delivered directly to the TM, exhibit potential as a novel strategy by which to slow the progression of TGF-ß2-mediated remodeling of the ECM within the TM.

Mechanism and Thermodynamics of Reductive Cleavage of Carbon-Halogen Bonds in the Polybrominated Aliphatic Electrophiles.

Quantum-mechanical computations revealed that, despite the presence of electron-withdrawing and/or π-acceptor substituents, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) of the polybromosubstituted aliphatic molecules R-Br (R-Br = C3Br2F6, CBr3NO2, CBr3CN, CBr3CONH2, CBr3CO2H, CHBr3, CFBr3, CBr4, CBr3COCBr3) are delocalized mostly over their bromine-containing fragments. The singly occupied molecular orbitals in the corresponding vertically excited anion radicals (R-Br(•-))* are characterized by essentially the same shapes and show nodes in the middle of the C-Br bonds. An injection of an electron into the antibonding LUMO results in the barrierless dissociation of the anion-radical species and the concerted reductive cleavages of C-Br bonds leading to the formation of the loosely bonded {R(•)···Br(-)} associates. The interaction energies between the fragments of these ion-radical pairs vary from ∼10 to 20 kcal mol(-1) in the gas phase and from 1 to 3 kcal mol(-1) in acetonitrile. In accord with the concerted mechanism of reductive cleavage, all R-Br molecules showed completely irreversible reduction waves in the voltammograms in the whole range of the scan rates employed (from 0.05 to 5 V s(-1)). Also, the transfer coefficients α, established from the width of these waves and dependence of reduction peak potentials Ep on the scan rates, were significantly lower than 0.5. The standard reduction potentials of the R-Br electrophiles, E(o)R-Br/R·+X(-), and the corresponding R(•) radicals, E(o)R(•)/R(-), were calculated in acetonitrile using the appropriate thermodynamic cycles. In agreement with these calculations, which indicated that the R(•) radicals resulting from the reductive cleavage of the R-Br molecules are stronger oxidants than their parents, the reduction peaks' currents in cyclic voltammograms were consistent with the two-electron transfer processes.