The Yin and Yang of the Opioid Growth Regulatory System: Focus on Diabetes—The Lorenz E. Zimmerman Tribute Lecture

Figure 9

Human corneas in organ culture. (a) Photographs of abraded human corneas in organ culture at time of initial wounding and 24 and 72 hrs after wounding. Media supplemented with either sterile water (control) (B, E), 10⁻⁶ M NTX (C, F), or 10⁻⁶ M OGF (D, G). Note the more rapid healing response in NTX supplemented medium, compared to control, and decreased rate of wound healing with OGF medium supplementation. Arrows indicate the margins of the residual wounds. (b) Histograms illustrate the accelerated rate of epithelial wound healing in response to NTX culture medium supplementation. Overall, the healing of epithelial wounded human corneas cultured in medium supplemented with 10⁻⁶ M NTX was accelerated by 21% to 89% during the period of 24 to 96 hours. (c) Supplementation of culture medium with OGF suppresses epithelial wound healing. Histogram of residual epithelial defect in organ cultured human corneas following 8 mm epithelial wounds. Medium was supplemented with either sterile water (CO) or 10⁻⁶ M OGF. 24% to 260% more defects present in OGF-treated corneas at day 7. Data are expressed as means ± SEM. Significantly different from controls at , , or (derived from [1]).

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