Oxidative stress markers dynamics in keratoconus patients' tears before and after corneal collagen crosslinking...

Keratoconus (KC) is a controversial ophthalmological disease, often considered both multifactorial and multigenic with poor or not entirely understood etiopathogenesis. Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) procedure is the most common surgical therapy for KC which both slows corneal thinning and halts disease progression. While extensive studies provide consistent evidence on systemic oxidative stress in KC patients and animal models, little is known on the tear fluid oxidative stress markers such as antioxidant enzymes activity or lipid peroxidation markers. Also, little is known considering the oxidative status dynamics following CXL. In this way, we aimed to evaluate three oxidative stress markers in the tears of KC patients before and after CXL procedure. Total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzymatic activity and malondiladehyde (MDA) levels were assessed from the tears of 20 kC patients who received the recommendation for CXL procedure. Significantly decreased SOD activity (p = 0.0014) was observed in KC patients tears, as compared to age and sex-matched controls which could lead to significant lipid peroxidation boost (p < 0.001). Significantly higher GPx enzyme activity was observed in KC patients, as compared to control (p < 0.001), suggesting a compensatory response to intense lipid peroxidation. Following CXL, SOD activity significantly decreases and GPx activity extensively increases, as compared to baseline KC levels and controls (p < 0.001). This work provides additional evidence on oxidative stress status in the tears of KC considering general oxidative stress markers dynamics both before and after the CXL procedure. We also demonstrated that the CXL procedure could have further relevance in the management of this disorder.