Spontaneous mesenteric hemorrhage associated with ehlers-danlos syndrome

The vascular type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a genetic disorder of connective tissue and is frequently associated with catastrophic arterial complications. Its surgical treatment is extremely difficult because of the fragility of vessels. This article describes three patients with vascular type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome who developed mesenteric hemorrhage due to spontaneous arterial rupture. The clinical and molecular characteristics of the disease are briefly reviewed.     

Flow pattern and perforating vessels in three different phases of myopic choroidal neovascularization seen by swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography

Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology - To compare the choroidal neovascularization (CNV) flow patterns and the relationship between perforating vessels (PVs) and CNV in...     

Anti-inflammatory effect of IL-6 receptor blockade in corneal alkali burn

We investigated the effect of soluble IL-6R (sIL-6R) blockade on corneal inflammation. Topical instillation of either anti-IL-6R antibody (MR16-1) or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was applied after wounding BALB/c mice corneas with alkali burn. The vascularized area was significantly reduced in the MR16-1 group. The immunoreactivity of phosphorylated STAT3, Gr-1, and F4/80 diminished significantly in the MR16-1 group. Laser capture microdissection resulted in a significant down-regulation of the mRNA expressions of ICAM-1, MCP-1, and VEGF-A in the corneal stroma of the MR16-1 group. Adding a combination of recombinant IL-6 and sIL-6R resulted in a significant increase in the release of VEGF from human corneal fibroblasts. As the infiltration of inflammatory cells, the expression of phosphorylated STAT3, and the expressions of inflammatory-related molecules in the experimental model of corneal inflammation were significantly inhibited by topical instillation of MR16-1, we deduce that IL-6 trans-signaling plays a significant role in ocular surface inflammation and that the blockade of IL-6R contributes to the reduction in corneal inflammation.     

Active form of gelatinases in tear fluidin patients with corneal ulcer or ocular burn

PURPOSE: To investigate the expression of the active form of gelatinases (gelatinase A: matrix metalloproteinase-2 [MMP-2] and gelatinase B: matrix metalloproteinase-9 [MMP-9]) in ocular surface disorders, we determined the presence of the active form of these gelatinases in the tear fluid of patients with corneal ulcer or ocular burn. METHODS: The subjects consisted of the ulcer group comprising 13 eyes, the burn group comprising 6 eyes, and the normal group comprising 10 eyes. Tear samples were taken by the method of the Schirmer test I. The tears were eluted using extraction buffer containing 0.01 M phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.2), 1% Tween 20 and 1 M NaCl, and analyzed by gelatin zymography. RESULTS: Only the proforms of MMP-2, and MMP-9 were detected in the normal group and in uncomplicated herpetic keratitis or herpetic keratitis cases complicated by mixed infection in the ulcer group. Active MMP-9 was detected in mild corneal ulcer cases and mild ocular burn cases. Both active MMP-2 and active MMP-9 were detected in endogenous corneal ulcer cases and severe burn cases, including perforation cases. CONCLUSIONS: Both active gelatinases were detected in tears of severe corneal ulcer or severe ocular burn cases. The active form of gelatinase expression may be related to the severity of ulceration.     

Upregulation of Matrix Metalloproteinase in Tear Fluid of Patients with Recurrent Corneal Erosion

Purpose

To investigate gelatinase [matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9] expression in the tear fluid of patients with recurrent corneal erosion (RCE).

Methods

Eleven patients with RCE, three patients with traumatic corneal erosion, and 10 control individuals were enrolled in this study. Tear samples from RCE eyes were obtained once, either at the time of recurrence (onset-phase samples, seven samples), or during the remission period (remission-phase samples, four samples). Tear samples from the nonaffected fellow eyes of the RCE patients were also examined once (fellow-eye samples, ten samples from ten patients). In addition, three samples from three patients with traumatic corneal erosion and ten samples from ten control individuals were obtained as well. Tear samples were collected by a modified Schirmer test I method and analyzed by gelatin zymography.

Results

Neither the active form of MMP-2 nor that of MMP-9 was detected in the samples from traumatic corneal erosion patients and control individuals. Both active MMP-2 and active MMP-9 were detected in all seven onset-phase samples. Active MMP-2 and active MMP-9 were detected in three of the four remission-phase samples. Although none of the ten fellow eyes had a history of RCE, active MMP-2 and active MMP-9 were detected in three fellow-eye samples.

Conclusions

Gelatinase expression was upregulated in the tear fluid of RCE patients. The presence of gelatinase in the affected eye during the remission phase as well as in the nonaffected fellow eye indicates that gelatinase expression in the tear fluid may be related to the recurrence of corneal erosion.?Jpn J Ophthalmol 2007;51:343–346 © Japanese Ophthalmological Society 2007

     

Magnetic resonance tomographic angiography: diagnostic value in trigeminal neuralgia

A combination of MRI, MR angiography and MR tomographic angiography (MRTA) was used to study the relationship to the root exit zone of the trigeminal nerve to surrounding vascular structures in seven patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and ten patients with no evidence at a lesion in this region. MRTA is the technique for showing the relationship between vessels, cranial nerves and brain stem. MRTA clearly demonstrated the presence of a vessel at the root exit zone of the trigeminal nerve in all patients with TN. In the ten other patients, examination of 20 trigeminal nerves revealed that only one nerve (5%) was in contact with a vessel at the root exit zone. This study supports vascular compression of trigeminal nerves as a cause of TN, and demonstrates the value of MRTA as noninvasive technique for demonstrating compression.