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Lacritin, a Novel Tear Glycoprotein, is an Effective Topical Treatment in Dry Eye Animal Models
Author(s) -
Hosseini Alireza,
Samudre Sandeep S.,
Sheppard John D.,
McKown Robert L.,
Laurie Gordon W.,
Lattanzio Frank A.,
Williams Patricia B.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.971.1
Subject(s) - artificial tears , medicine , ophthalmology , tears , animal model , endocrinology , surgery
Dry eye is a common and debilitating disease. Lacritin, a natural tear glycoprotein, has been shown to safely increase tear flow in normal rabbits with no effect on tear composition ( FASEB J. (2008)22: 1137.8 ). These experiments test topical lacritin in two dry eye animal models. Methods In dry eye rat model (n=8) the ex‐orbital lacrimal gland was unilaterally and surgically removed; contralateral eye served as naïve control. Bilateral ovariectomized (BLOE) macaques (n=8) (resembling post menopausal dry eye) were compared to naïve macaques (n=4). In both models non‐stimulated tear flow was measured at baseline (T0) and 2 hrs (T120) after a single topical dose in that eye. Rats received 20μl lacritin (1–100μg/ml) and macaques received 50μl lacritin (25–250μg/ml). Results In rats, 50μg/ml lacritin was optimal and increased dry eye tear flow at T120 (25.1±4.7 mm) vs T0 (17.8±3.6 mm) ( p<0.05 ). Vehicle (PBS) had no effect in either rat eye. In BLOE macaques 50μg/ml lacritin (OD) was optimal and increased tear flow at T120 (9.1±7.2 mm) vs T0 (3.1±2.4 mm) ( p<0.05 ), when PBS treatment of the contralateral eye (OS) had no effect. In naïve macaques, neither lacritin (OD) nor vehicle (OS) increased tear flow. PBS treatment of both eyes of either BLOE or naïve macaques had no effect. Conclusion Lacritin significantly increases tear flow in clinically relevant amounts in animal dry eye models.