Abstract：
Dry eye is a prevalent ophthalmic disease. Ocular surface inflammation in the hyperosmolar environment of the tear film is critical in dry eye progression. Quercetin has strong anti-inflammatory effects; however, its exact mechanism of action in dry eye is not fully understood. Therefore, this study investigated whether quercetin could inhibit the damage sustained to human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) in a hyperosmolar environment through its anti-inflammatory effects. HCECs were cultured in a complete medium and were divided into four groups: normal, model, quercetin, and inhibitor. The proliferation of HCECs was detected by Ki67 staining; the expression levels of PTEN, p-PI3K and p-AKT were detected by Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining; the relative mRNA expression levels of PTEN, PI3K, AKT, IL-6 and TNF-ɑ were detected by quantitative real-time PCR; the relative expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In this study, the proliferation of HCECs in the model group was found to be significantly inhibited compared with that in the normal group; however, quercetin was effective in improving the proliferation of HCECs, decreasing the relative expression of p-PI3K, p-AKT, IL-6, TNF-ɑ as well as increasing PTEN. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that quercetin could promote the proliferation of HCECs and reduce the expression of inflammatory factors by inhibiting the PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway in the hyperosmolarity-induced HCECs model.
摘要：
干眼症是一种常见的眼科疾病。泪膜的高渗性环境中的眼部表面炎症在干眼进展中是关键的。槲皮素具有很强的抗炎作用；然而，其在干眼症中的确切作用机制尚不完全清楚。因此,这项研究调查了槲皮素是否可以通过其抗炎作用抑制高渗性环境中人角膜上皮细胞(HCECs)的损伤.HCECs在完全培养基中培养，分为四组：正常，模型，槲皮素,和抑制剂。Ki67染色检测HCECs的增殖;PTEN的表达水平,免疫印迹和免疫荧光染色检测p-PI3K和p-AKT;PTENmRNA相对表达水平,PI3K,AKT,实时定量PCR检测IL-6和TNF-α,酶联免疫吸附法检测IL-6和TNF-α的相对表达水平。在这项研究中,与正常组相比,模型组HCECs的增殖受到显著抑制;槲皮素可有效改善HCECs的增殖，降低p-PI3K的相对表达，p-AKT,IL-6、TNF-α以及增加PTEN。总之,本研究表明，槲皮素可以通过抑制高渗透压诱导的HCECs模型中的PTEN/PI3K/AKT通路，促进HCECs的增殖，减少炎症因子的表达。
