Cirugía de ojo seco y cataratas. Dry eye and cataract surgery

Resumen

This thesis consists of 7 chapters. The 1st chapter defines the background information about the ocular surface, cataract surgery and dry eye disease pathology followed with a review of the literature about studies investigating dry eye after cataract surgery and its aetiology. A review of in vitro models of the dry eye used to explore the aetiology of dry eye after cataract surgery is included. Lastly, the gaps in the literature and how this thesis attempts to fill these gaps is summarized. The 2nd chapter outlines the common methodology used in this thesis with a list of materials, instruments and a detailed assessment of the procedures used throughout the thesis. The 3rd chapter describes the development of an in vitro model of dry eye. This model was used to assess the phototoxicity from an operating microscope which could potentially cause or worsen dry eye symptoms postoperatively. Different approaches used; assessment of cell viability, wound healing, inflammation, apoptosis. The 4th chapter studied the effect of UV irradiation at different wavelengths with an in vitro model. This chapter explored whether cell viability and cell size are affected more by the UV irradiation in the presence of hyperosmolar stress. The 5th chapter investigated the effect of povidone iodine, a commonly used antisepsis agent in ophthalmic surgery, on conjunctival fibroblasts. Different concentration of povidone iodine, along with the altered exposure times were tested to observe cell viability differences on conjunctival fibroblast. The wound healing response was observed to interpret the previous statements about the povidone iodine. Three-dimensional culture was also constructed to better mimic the in vivo conditions to observe the penetration of povidone iodine. The 6th chapter summarizes the findings of the overall thesis and highlights the impact of this research¿s results. Finally, the 7th chapter states the limitations and the future directions for overall thesis