The Evaluation of Thiol Redox Status in Conjunctiva of Dry Eye Patients

The Evaluation of Thiol Redox Status in Conjunctiva of Dry Eye Patients

Dry eye disease is related with oxidative stress at the ocular surface. GSH is one of the key factor of protect from oxidative stress. To evaluate thiol status of ocular surface cells by monitoring GSH concentration, we can evaluate the severity of dry eye.

The conjunctival cells are collected by impression cytology. Those cells are stained with 100 mM of monochlorobimane (MCB, M-1381, Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR) and propidium iodide (PI). Fluorescent intensity, reflecting the amount of icGSH, was inspected under a confocal laser scan microscope. To detect the GSH levels we used a fluorescent MCB probe with excitation and emission wavelengths of 405 nm and 410-480 nm, respectively. The cell-permeating MCB probe is non-fluorescent but forms a fluorescent adduct with GSH in a reaction catalyzed by glutathione-S-transferase.

Inclusion Criteria:

• dry eye patients
• control volunteers

Exclusion Criteria:

• Young (less than 20) patients
• The patients who rejected this study