Interleukin 6 facilitates corneal epithelial wound closure in vivo
T. Nishida, M. Nakamura, H. Mishima, T. Otori and M. Hikida
Department of Ophthalmology, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Rapid corneal epithelial wound healing is essential to the maintenance of
clear visual acuity. The cytokine interleukin 6 is thought to participate
in the wound-healing process. We investigated the effect of interleukin 6
eye drops on the rate of corneal epithelial wound closure in rabbits in
vivo. Recombinant human interleukin 6 in phosphate-buffered saline at
concentrations of 0.1, 0.3, or 1 mg/L was administered immediately after
the epithelium was debrided with the n-heptyl alcohol treatment and 2, 4,
6, 8, 10, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, and 28 hours after debridement. The eyes were
stained with fluorescein and photographed at baseline and at 7, 10, 18, 21,
24, 27, 30, and 43 hours after debridement. The rate of wound healing was
calculated with a linear regression analysis based on the areas of the
epithelial defects, which were recorded from hour 10 to hour 30. The mean
(+/- SD) healing rate in the control group, which received
phosphate-buffered saline alone, was 1.03 +/- 0.15 mm2/h. The
administration of interleukin 6 at concentrations of 0.1, 0.3, or 1.0 mg/L
increased the healing rate significantly (P less than .001) to 1.27, 1.39,
or 1.44 mm2/h, respectively. Our results indicate that the administration
of interleukin 6 might have clinical applications in the treatment of
persistent corneal epithelial defects.
