New biomaterials for ocular surface reconstruction.

描述(申请人提供)：眼睛表面容易受到各种伤害，包括机械、化学和热损伤。由此产生的创伤可能会使自然产生的角膜再生特性无法恢复健康的上皮表面，从而导致角膜透明度和视力的丧失。从丝绸中提取的生物工程支架已被用于恢复许多器官系统中受损组织的功能。虽然在眼表重建方面取得了一些进展，但重点放在培养细胞的机制上，而较少关注于确定改变眼表上皮细胞生长的基质的方法。该建议有2个目标：1)确定促进角膜上皮细胞黏附和迁移的最佳纳米级表面特征；2)通过多肽表面修饰优化细胞在丝膜上的黏附和迁移。上述探索性目标将检验我们的假设，即纳米级特征和表面修饰对体内角膜上皮细胞的黏附、增殖和迁移至关重要。这些目标将为未来的实验奠定基础，这些实验结合使用丝素薄膜作为潜在的生物工程眼表重建的管道来修饰眼表上皮细胞基质。与公共健康相关：眼睛表面容易受到各种侮辱，包括机械、化学和热损伤。由此产生的创伤可能会使自然产生的角膜再生特性无法恢复健康的上皮表面，从而导致角膜透明度和视力的丧失。我们建议设计由表面特性组成的生物工程组织，以促进眼睛的修复。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ocular surface is vulnerable to myriad insults including mechanical, chemical and thermal injuries. The resulting trauma may render the naturally occurring regenerative properties of the cornea incapable of restoring a healthy epithelial surface with a resultant loss of corneal transparency and vision. Bioengineered scaffolds derived from silk have been used to restore function to damaged tissues in number of organ systems. Although some progress has been made in ocular surface reconstruction, the emphasis has been on mechanisms to cultivate cells, while less focus has been placed on identifying means to alter the substrate on which the ocular surface epithelium is destined to grow. The proposal has 2 aims: 1) To determine the optimal nanoscale surface features promoting corneal epithelial cell adhesion and migration, and 2) To optimize cell adhesion and migration on silk films using peptide surface modifications. The above exploratory Aims will examine our hypothesis that nanoscale features and surface modifications are critical for the adhesion, proliferation and migration of corneal epithelial cells vivo. The Aims will lay the groundwork for future experiments combining modifications of ocular surface epithelial cell substrates using thin silk films as conduits for potential bioengineered ocular surface reconstruction. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The ocular surface is vulnerable to myriad insults including mechanical, chemical and thermal injuries. The resulting trauma may render the naturally occurring regenerative properties of the cornea incapable of restoring a healthy epithelial surface with a resultant loss of corneal transparency and vision. We propose to design bioengineered tissues composed of with surface properties that will facilitate repair of the eye.