A histological examination of corneal epithelium after iontophoresis with different riboflavin solutions  

作　　者：Na Li Zhengjun Fan Xiujun Peng 

机构地区：[1]Department of Ophthalmology,The Sixth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital,Beijing 100048,China

出　　处：《Chinese Medical Journal》2022年第6期753-755,共3页中华医学杂志（英文版）

摘　　要：To the Editor:Currently,from a pathological point of view,corneal collagen crosslinking(CXL)with riboflavin is the only new therapy for controlling keratoconus progression.Riboflavin,as a photosensitizer,can be activated after the ultraviolet radiation in the cornea and prevent it from damaging intraocular organizations.Therefore,the concentration of riboflavin in the corneal stroma must be maintained at a sufficient level during the treatment.[1]Riboflavin,a type of water-soluble macromolecule,is resistant to permeating the corneal epithelial barrier.Thus,de-epithelial eye-dripping was adopted conventionally with complications such as inevitable pain,long recovery time,potential risk of infection,and so on;transepithelial corneal CXL is increasingly becoming a research hotspot.It is thus critically important to improve the transepithelial penetration of riboflavin.Although iontophoresis was reported,it had a slightly higher effect with no clear mechanism analysis.[2,3,4]Corneal epithelium is lipophilic and hydrophobic,and hydrophilic drugs enter corneal stroma via intercellular pathways.In this study,permeability effects of riboflavin in different solvents into the cornea via iontophoresis were compared,and the changes of corneal epithelial cell layer organizations were analyzed to examine the solvent components that are most beneficial to iontophoresis and investigate the underlying mechanism of the penetration effect.

关 键 词：CORNEAL EPITHELIUM DRUGS 

分 类 号：R772.2[医药卫生—眼科]