Presence of growth factor in human vitreous

The aqueous humor and the vitreous not only maintain integrity of the eye but also play a vital role in providing nutrients to ocular tissues. While the presence of epidermal growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor, and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) have been confirmed in human aqueous humor, only TGF-beta has been found to exist in human vitreous. In this study I obtained eyes for keratoplasty from 20 male and 20 female donors, or a total of 40 subjects; upon removing the corneal button. I extracted 500 microliters of the vitreous humor in order to confirm, using the ELISA method, the presence of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) in the vitreous. TGF-alpha ranging from 78 to 250 pg/ml, or an average of 130.65 +/- 40.89 pg/ml, was found in all eyes. On the other hand, EGF was not confirmed in all eyes. This is the first study to confirm the presence of TGF-alpha in the human vitreous.