Hyperglycemia induces corneal endothelial dysfunction through attenuating mitophagy

Hyperglycemia increases the risk of corneal endothelial dysfunction, resulting in damage to corneal endothelial structure and function. However, the effect and mechanism of hyperglycemia-induced corneal endothelial damage remain elusive. In this study, we demonstrated that hyperglycemia reduced the expression of pump-related protein Na⁺/K⁺ ATPase and barrier-related protein ZO-1. Moreover, we found hyperglycemia caused abnormal changes of morphological mitochondria and dynamics in vitro. In addition, the decreased levels of mitophagy were further confirmed Western blotting and LC3B-Mitotracker Immunofluorescence. Exogenous application of mitophagy agonist carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazine (CCCP) increases the expression of Na⁺/K⁺ ATPase and ZO-1 in corneal endothelial cells through up-regulated mitophagy in vitro. In addition, CCCP effectively reverses the phenomenon of corneal opacity and increased corneal thickness in diabetic mice. Therefore, our demonstrated the novel function of mitophagy in the pathogenesis of diabetic cornea endothelial dysfunction, and provide potential approach for treating diabetic corneal endothelial dysfunction.