Background: Fibronectin is supposed to have an important role in wound healing. The extradomain A-containing cellular fibronectin (EDAcFn) refers to fibronectin, which instead of being a hepatocyte derived component of blood plasma or body fluids, is produced locally. The present study was undertaken to clarify the possible changes in excretion of EDAcFn in tears following excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).
Methods: An immunoassay was used to determine EDAcFn concentrations in human tear fluid samples of 11 eyes after PRK. Tear fluids were collected with scaled microcapillaries preoperatively as well as 1, 2, and 7 days after PRK. The time used to collect a known volume of tears was registered. This was done to estimate the dilution effect related to the hypersecretion of tears after PRK.
Results: The mean preoperative tear fluid EDAcFn concentration was 0.28 +/- 0.07 ng/microliter with a wide range (0.05 to 0.63). The tear fluid flow-corrected excretion of EDAcFn was 1.36 +/- 0.35 ng/min (range, 0.145 to 3.50). There was a significant increase in both postoperative tear fluid flow and excretion of EDAcFn on days 1 and 2. The elevation of the mean EDAcFn concentration did not decrease in spite of reflex tearing. The mean excretion of EDAcFn in tears was 28-fold on the first and 17-fold on the second postoperative day. Normal level was reached by day 7.
Conclusion: There is a rapid increase in excretion of EDAcFn in tears following PRK. This seems to last only as long as an epithelial defect persists. The epithelium of all eyes healed in 3 to 4 days in spite of wide interindividual variations in both tear fluid flow and EDAcFn excretion.