Expression of urease in ocular tissues and the correlation between the reduction of lacrimal film urea and xerophthalmia
Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression of urea enzymes in lacrimal gland and ocular surface tissues,and urea is important component of lacrimal film.Methods Twenty patients with xerophthalmia from March 2011 to March 2013 were enrolled as observation group,and 58 healthy subjects were served as control group.The urease levels including arginase 1, 2 and agmatinase in lacrimal gland and ocular surface tissues were detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.A total of 38 specimens were collected including tear fluid, aqueous humour and serum.Results The enzymes including arginase 1, 2 and agmatinase were expressed in all the ocular tissues,except for arginase 1 without expression in cornea.The concentration of urea in tear fluid was not correlated to that in aqueous humour and serum ( r =0.13, P >0.05;r =04.5 , P =0.05), however, the concentration of urea in aqueous humour was closely related with that in serum ( r =0.7, P =0.01).The concentration of urea in observation group was significantly lower than that in control group ( P <0.01).Conclusion The urease in tear fluid can produce urea independently, which plays an important role in maintaining lacrimal film at a certain concentration of urea.
Keywords：xerophthalmiaureaseimmunohistochemistryPCR
Publication Date：2015-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：4( 3531-3534 )