Proteome Composition of Bovine Amniotic Membrane and Its Potential Role in Corneal Healing

To investigate the protein profile of bovine amniotic membranes (bAM) and to determine putative associations between protein composition in bAM and known corneal healing pathways.

The bAM were acquired from normal full-term births (n = 10), processed, and stored at -80°C for two days. Subsequently, the frozen membranes were thawed at room temperature and prepared for proteomic exploration using high-resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, followed by bioinformatics analysis. Recently identified corneal healing pathways were contrasted with protein profiles and pathways present in bAM.

The analyses identified 2105 proteins, with an interactive network of 1271 nodes (proteins) and 8757 edges (interactions). The proteins with higher betweenness centrality measurements include microfibril-associated protein 4, HSD3B1, CAPNS1, ATP1B3, CAV1, ANXA2, YARS, and GAPDH. The top four pathways in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes were ribosome, metabolic pathway, spliceosome, and oxidative phosphorylation. The bAM and cornea shared abundant proteins, genome ontology, and signaling pathways.

The high-throughput proteomic profile of the bAM demonstrated that numerous proteins present in the cornea are also present in this fetal membrane. Our findings collectively demonstrate the similarity between bAM and the cornea's protein composition, supporting our hypothesis that bAM can be used to treat corneal diseases.