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1From the Ophthalmology Research Laboratories, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and the 21David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California; the 2Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; the 3Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; the 4University of Iowa College of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Iowa City, Iowa; the 5Division for Cell and Matrix Biology, Department of Experimental Medical Science, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden; the 6Division of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas; the 7Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois; the 8Department of Ophthalmology, University of California Irvine Medical Center, Orange, California; the 9Center for Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; the 10Okayama University Medical School, Okayama, Japan; the 11Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, Portland, Oregon; the 12Shigei Medical Research Institute, Okayama, Japan; the 13Hope Heart Program, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, Seattle, Washington; the 14Institute for Physiological Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, Münster University, Münster, Germany; the 15Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; the 16Department of Cell Biology, New York University Medical School, New York, New York; the 17Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the 18Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Martinsried, Germany; and the 20Institute of Biomedicine/Anatomy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
PURPOSE. Adult human corneal epithelial basement membrane (EBM) and Descemet’s membrane (DM) components exhibit heterogeneous distribution. The purpose of the study was to identify changes of these components during postnatal corneal development.
METHODS. Thirty healthy adult corneas and 10 corneas from 12-day- to 3-year-old children were studied by immunofluorescence with antibodies against BM components.
RESULTS. Type IV collagen composition of infant corneal central EBM over Bowman’s layer changed from 
1-2 to 3-4 chains after 3 years of life; in the adult, 1-2 chains were retained only in the limbal BM. Laminin 2 and ß2 chains were present in the adult limbal BM where epithelial stem cells are located. By 3 years of age, ß2 chain appeared in the limbal BM. In all corneas, limbal BM contained laminin 
3 chain. In the infant DM, type IV collagen 1-6 chains, perlecan, nidogen-1, nidogen-2, and netrin-4 were found on both faces, but they remained only on the endothelial face of the adult DM. The stromal face of the infant but not the adult DM was positive for tenascin-C, fibrillin-1, SPARC, and laminin-332. Type VIII collagen shifted from the endothelial face of infant DM to its stromal face in the adult. Matrilin-4 largely disappeared after the age of 3 years.
CONCLUSIONS. The distribution of laminin 3 chain, nidogen-2, netrin-4, matrilin-2, and matrilin-4 is described in the cornea for the first time. The observed differences between adult and infant corneal BMs may relate to changes in their mechanical strength, corneal cell adhesion and differentiation in the process of postnatal corneal maturation.
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  A. M.-H. Yeung, U. Schlotzer-Schrehardt, B. Kulkarni, N. L. Tint, A. Hopkinson, and H. S. Dua Limbal Epithelial Crypt: A Model for Corneal Epithelial Maintenance and Novel Limbal Regional Variations Arch Ophthalmol, May 1, 2008; 126(5): 665 - 669. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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