Tao Li, Xiaoli Wu, Yi Huang, Juan Tang, Yu Zhang, Yangrui Du, Zhiyu Du
{"title":"Multifunctional Mesoporous Titanium Dioxide Nanodrug for Corneal Haze Treatment and Its Mechanism.","authors":"Tao Li, Xiaoli Wu, Yi Huang, Juan Tang, Yu Zhang, Yangrui Du, Zhiyu Du","doi":"10.34133/bmr.0202","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Preventing and treating corneal haze is essential after corneal surface refractive surgery. However, the high intraocular pressure that results after applying traditional anti-inflammatory corticosteroids has attracted great attention. Therefore, we synthesized a multifunctional nanomedicine (Tet@TiO<sub>2</sub>) with controlled drug release, inflammation targeting, and good biocompatibility for corneal haze treatment. In this study, we discovered that Tet@TiO<sub>2</sub> and tetrandrine (Tet), but not TiO<sub>2</sub>, displayed a characteristic absorption peak at 282 nm. Three weeks after transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy surgery, the Tet@TiO<sub>2</sub> group displayed significant decreases in nuclear volume, corneal cell edema, type I and III collagen fiber expression, normal organelle morphology, and collagen fiber arrangement. Compared with those in the control and TiO<sub>2</sub> groups, the α-smooth muscle actin, connective tissue growth factor, and type III collagen fibers in the Tet@TiO<sub>2</sub> group decreased more significantly after fluorometholone eye drop and Tet treatment, indicating that Tet@TiO<sub>2</sub> can effectively inhibit the expression of these inflammatory factors during corneal haze formation. Moreover, Tet@TiO<sub>2</sub> showed good, sustained antibacterial properties. More importantly, we found that Tet@TiO<sub>2</sub> could effectively down-regulate the expression of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT), and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and up-regulate the expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) by modulating the inflammatory PI3K-AKT-Bax/Bcl-2 signaling pathway after corneal surface refractive surgery to effectively prevent and treat corneal haze by reducing the expression of inflammatory factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":93902,"journal":{"name":"Biomaterials research","volume":"29 ","pages":"0202"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12076154/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biomaterials research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.34133/bmr.0202","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Preventing and treating corneal haze is essential after corneal surface refractive surgery. However, the high intraocular pressure that results after applying traditional anti-inflammatory corticosteroids has attracted great attention. Therefore, we synthesized a multifunctional nanomedicine (Tet@TiO2) with controlled drug release, inflammation targeting, and good biocompatibility for corneal haze treatment. In this study, we discovered that Tet@TiO2 and tetrandrine (Tet), but not TiO2, displayed a characteristic absorption peak at 282 nm. Three weeks after transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy surgery, the Tet@TiO2 group displayed significant decreases in nuclear volume, corneal cell edema, type I and III collagen fiber expression, normal organelle morphology, and collagen fiber arrangement. Compared with those in the control and TiO2 groups, the α-smooth muscle actin, connective tissue growth factor, and type III collagen fibers in the Tet@TiO2 group decreased more significantly after fluorometholone eye drop and Tet treatment, indicating that Tet@TiO2 can effectively inhibit the expression of these inflammatory factors during corneal haze formation. Moreover, Tet@TiO2 showed good, sustained antibacterial properties. More importantly, we found that Tet@TiO2 could effectively down-regulate the expression of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT), and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and up-regulate the expression of Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) by modulating the inflammatory PI3K-AKT-Bax/Bcl-2 signaling pathway after corneal surface refractive surgery to effectively prevent and treat corneal haze by reducing the expression of inflammatory factors.