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NGF and TGF-beta mRNA expression during pregnancy in a rat corneal wound healing model
1Department of Anatomy and Human Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
Background:
Growth factors seem to play a major role in corneal wound healing and TGF-beta seems to be associated with abnormal healing after corneal surgical procedures. Few studies have analysed the role of NGF and TGF-beta on corneal wound healing during pregnancy. The aim of the present study was to create an animal model to evaluate the expression of NGF and TGF-betas during corneal wound healing in two groups: control and pregnant rats.
Methods:
Corneal mRNA for NGF and the three isoforms of TGF-beta were analysed by RT-PCR, in a time-course experiment on different days after epithelial wounding (2, 7, 14 days) in pregnant and control groups
Results:
The results show high corneal mRNA expression for NGF and TGF-beta1 without any variation throughout the healing process or pregnancy evolution. However, we detected a different expression of corneal mRNAs for TGF-beta2 and TGF-beta3 in the control group. This data was not detected in the pregnant group.
Discussion:
Our results suggested that pregnancy could have a relevant role on TGF-beta2 and TGF-beta3 mRNA expression during the corneal wound healing process. Additional research should be performed to corroborate these findings.
