Thursday, December 20, 2007

Study: Botox blah blah dry eye blah blah mice

Sigh, these molecular-level things... I need a translator. The only thing that kind of jumped off the page at me from this one was that some of the inflammatory stuff was equally impervious to cyclosporine, corticosteroids and artificial tears.

Lacrimal gland inflammatory cytokine gene expression in the botulinum toxin B-induced murine dry eye model.
Park CY, Zhuang W, Lekhanont K, Zhang C, Cano M, Lee WS, Gehlbach PL, Chuck RS.
Mol Vis. 2007 Nov 29;13:2222-32.

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of keratoconjunctivitis sicca, induced by botulinum toxin-B (BTX-B), on the inflammatory cytokine gene expression in the lacrimal gland (LG). And to determine the effect of various topical anti-inflammatory agents on the resulting cytokine levels.

METHODS: Forty-two mice (eight-week-old, female, CBA/J) were divided into six groups. Four groups were injected with BTX-B into both lacrimal glands, one group was injected with saline into both LG (Sal, n=7), and one group served as an uninjected control (Con, n=7). The four groups of BTX-B injected mice were then assigned to a treatment group: 1. no additional treatment (BTX), 2. artificial tear treatment (AT), 3. Cyclosporine A (CSA) treatment, and 4. fluorometholone (FM) treatment (n=7 in each group). Corneal fluorescein staining was evaluated one, two, and four weeks after injection. LGs were harvested after two weeks (groups Con, Sal, and BTX) and four weeks (groups AT, CSA, and FM) after injection. Gene microarray analysis for inflammatory cytokines and their receptors, real time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and immunofluorescent staining with anti-mouse CD3e monoclonal antibody were then performed on LG tissue.

RESULTS: BTX-B injection into the LG effectively induced dry eye in mice two and four weeks following injection. Microarray data identified the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, IL-12, and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and the anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 and toll-interacting protein (Tollip) as candidates for validation by real time RT-PCR. MIF and IL-12 expression were elevated in BTX-B injected mice at weeks 2 and 4 regardless of treatment. Tollip and IL-1 expressions were increased in some groups after BTX-B injection regardless of the treatment type. Other cytokines showed no significant changes. LG structures were well maintained without significant T lymphocyte infiltration in all groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Ocular surface change induced by BTX-B injection resulted in an altered expression of various inflammatory cytokines in our murine dry eye model. Alteration of the pathology-induced cytokine profile by topical therapy is reported.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

not blah blah blah to me...
I had Botox injections all around my left eye by a neurologist to treat my hemi facial nerve spasm (which caused my face to contort hideously every time I smiled or talked). Two weeks later I had LASIK eye surgery. The right eye is now 20/20, the left eye is 20/50 or on some days a little better, I am 10 weeks post op. Both doctors prior to LASIK felt that the Botox was a non issue. I feel like the Botox had a great deal to do with the failure of the left eye to refract optimally. My conjecture is that the field was dry during LASIK and continued to be dryer for the post op.
Thanks for an interesting post, if you find any other research on Botox and eyes, I would be very interested!
from Claire