Purpose: To evaluate the effect of glucocorticoid (triamcinolone acetonide injectable suspension) pretreatment on corneal neovascularization, lymphangiogenesis, and inflammation in a murine penetrating keratoplasty (PK) and corneal suture model.
Methods: For the PK model, BALB/c mice were used as recipients and C57BL/6 mice were used as donors. A group pretreated with subconjunctival glucocorticoid and a combination of post-subconjunctival and topical glucocorticoids (group I) was compared with two groups that did not receive glucocorticoid pretreatment [one group received a combination of subconjunctival and topical glucocorticoids postoperatively (group II) and the other group received only topical glucocorticoid treatment postoperatively (group III)]. All groups were treated with subconjunctival glucocorticoid on the day of surgery. For the corneal suture model, BALB/c mice were used. A group receiving only pre-suture glucocorticoid treatment (group A) and a group receiving only post-suture glucocorticoid treatment (group C) were compared with a control group that did not receive glucocorticoid therapy (group B). The degree of neovascularization, lymphangiogenesis, and inflammatory infiltration was compared in each of these models.
Results: In the PK model, the group receiving glucocorticoid pretreatment (group I) showed less neovascularization compared with the posttreatment-only groups (group II, P=0.043; group III, P=0.020) and less lymphangiogenesis compared with group III (P=0.005). In the corneal suture model, the glucocorticoid pretreatment group showed a similar level of neovascularization, lymphangiogenesis, and inflammatory infiltration as the posttreatment-only groups (P>0.05).
Conclusions: Glucocorticoid pretreatment before PK decreases neovascularization and lymphangiogenesis compared with posttransplant glucocorticoid treatment alone.