PMID: 11328735May 1, 2001Paper

Stimulatory effect of pseudomonal elastase on collagen degradation by cultured keratocytes

Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
T NaganoT Nishida

Abstract

The pathobiology of corneal ulceration induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa was investigated by characterization of the pseudomonal pathogenic factors responsible for degradation of the collagen matrix. Three-dimensional gels of type I collagen containing (or not) rabbit keratocytes were incubated in the presence of either culture supernatant of P. aeruginosa strain PAO1 or pseudomonal pathogenic factors (elastase, lipopolysaccharide, or exotoxin A), and the extent of collagen degradation was assessed after 24 hours by measurement of released hydroxyproline. Activation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) produced by keratocytes was also examined by gelatin zymography and immunoblot analysis. In the absence of keratocytes, the PAO1-conditioned medium increased the extent of collagen degradation. The conditioned medium also promoted keratocyte-mediated collagen degradation. Of the pseudomonal pathogenic factors examined, only elastase degraded collagen directly as well as stimulated keratocyte-mediated collagen degradation. Culture supernatant of elastase-deficient P. aeruginosa (lasR or lasB) mutants had no effect on collagen degradation in the absence or presence of keratocytes. Elastase also induced the conversion of the inactive...Continue Reading

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