By Zhang et al. [24] maybe somewhat different than that reported by us and Vauclair et al. [14]. In particular, their model shows evidence of dry eye disease with keratinization across the ocular surface (both conjunctiva and cornea) while in our model, keratinization is limited to the central corneal plaques which is more prone to trauma.Another important point about our mouse model is that it typically leads to a partial and not complete knockout of Notch1. This is mainly because tamoxifen does not activate Cre-ERT in all cells and therefore does not knockout Notch1 in the entire ocular surface epithelium [14,15]. The advantage of using the tamoxifen inducible system is that it allows one to bypass the developmental period and focus on the specific role of Notch1 in adult tissues. However, the fact that it is a partial knockout also highlights an interesting point about the corneal pathology in these mice, namely that 16574785 complete loss of Notch1 is not required. As shown before by the Kopan group, a complete knockout in the cornea is not necessary for the phenotype and ultimately the keratinized epithelium includes both Notch1-/- and Notch1+ epithelial cells [44]. This strongly suggests that the phenotypic switch (i.e. keratinization) may not actually require the loss of Notch1 but rather it may be a consequence of other events on the ocular surface. Therefore, we hypothesize that a threshold level of Notch1 loss in the epithelium leads to impairment of the epithelial barrier function which predisposes it to the pathologic changes due to recurrent trauma. Vauclair et al. identified cellular retinol binding protein 1 (CRBP1) as one of the downstream effectors of Notch1 and hypothesized that impairment in vitamin A metabolism was important for the phenotypic switch. However, the fact that Notch1+ cells also contribute to the keratinized epithelium argues against that hypothesis and instead suggests that loss of Notch1 and downstream effectors such as CRBP1 most likely lead to an impairment in the epithelial PS-1145 custom synthesis differentiation and ultimately barrier function. In summary, we have demonstrated an essential role for Notch1 in the corneal epithelial barrier recovery after wounding. The in vivo findings are further corroborated by abnormalities in tight junction formation in Notch1-/- epithelial cells in vitro. These results highlight the role of Notch1 in epithelial differentiation and suggest that an intrinsic defect in the corneal epithelial barrier function is an important contributing factor to the development of inflammation and keratinization in these mice. These findings provide further insight into the pathophysiologic mechanisms of ocular surface diseases and suggest Notch signaling may be a potential therapeutic pathway for enhancing the barrier function.AcknowledgementsThe authors thank Ruth Zelkha, MS, for her generous technical assistance in imaging.JSI124 cost Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: AM NA CCC ARD. Performed the experiments: AM NA HMS JRS BYM FYM. Analyzed the data: AM NA JRS CCC ARD. Wrote the manuscript: AM JRS HDL ARD.Notch1 and Corneal Epithelial Barrier
The generation of T cells from 23977191 haematopoietic progenitor cells requires the positioning of progenitors within the thymus where a unique environment induces supports and directs their differentiation [1]. Production of new thymocytes continues throughout life and because the progenitors cannot be stored and maintained indefinitely within the thymus, continua.By Zhang et al. [24] maybe somewhat different than that reported by us and Vauclair et al. [14]. In particular, their model shows evidence of dry eye disease with keratinization across the ocular surface (both conjunctiva and cornea) while in our model, keratinization is limited to the central corneal plaques which is more prone to trauma.Another important point about our mouse model is that it typically leads to a partial and not complete knockout of Notch1. This is mainly because tamoxifen does not activate Cre-ERT in all cells and therefore does not knockout Notch1 in the entire ocular surface epithelium [14,15]. The advantage of using the tamoxifen inducible system is that it allows one to bypass the developmental period and focus on the specific role of Notch1 in adult tissues. However, the fact that it is a partial knockout also highlights an interesting point about the corneal pathology in these mice, namely that 16574785 complete loss of Notch1 is not required. As shown before by the Kopan group, a complete knockout in the cornea is not necessary for the phenotype and ultimately the keratinized epithelium includes both Notch1-/- and Notch1+ epithelial cells [44]. This strongly suggests that the phenotypic switch (i.e. keratinization) may not actually require the loss of Notch1 but rather it may be a consequence of other events on the ocular surface. Therefore, we hypothesize that a threshold level of Notch1 loss in the epithelium leads to impairment of the epithelial barrier function which predisposes it to the pathologic changes due to recurrent trauma. Vauclair et al. identified cellular retinol binding protein 1 (CRBP1) as one of the downstream effectors of Notch1 and hypothesized that impairment in vitamin A metabolism was important for the phenotypic switch. However, the fact that Notch1+ cells also contribute to the keratinized epithelium argues against that hypothesis and instead suggests that loss of Notch1 and downstream effectors such as CRBP1 most likely lead to an impairment in the epithelial differentiation and ultimately barrier function. In summary, we have demonstrated an essential role for Notch1 in the corneal epithelial barrier recovery after wounding. The in vivo findings are further corroborated by abnormalities in tight junction formation in Notch1-/- epithelial cells in vitro. These results highlight the role of Notch1 in epithelial differentiation and suggest that an intrinsic defect in the corneal epithelial barrier function is an important contributing factor to the development of inflammation and keratinization in these mice. These findings provide further insight into the pathophysiologic mechanisms of ocular surface diseases and suggest Notch signaling may be a potential therapeutic pathway for enhancing the barrier function.AcknowledgementsThe authors thank Ruth Zelkha, MS, for her generous technical assistance in imaging.Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: AM NA CCC ARD. Performed the experiments: AM NA HMS JRS BYM FYM. Analyzed the data: AM NA JRS CCC ARD. Wrote the manuscript: AM JRS HDL ARD.Notch1 and Corneal Epithelial Barrier
The generation of T cells from 23977191 haematopoietic progenitor cells requires the positioning of progenitors within the thymus where a unique environment induces supports and directs their differentiation [1]. Production of new thymocytes continues throughout life and because the progenitors cannot be stored and maintained indefinitely within the thymus, continua.
