The effect of ozone (O3) therapy in addition to high dose methylprednisolone on hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) expression in rabbit cornea

OpenAlex İngilizce

Introduction: To investigate the effect of ozone (O3) therapy on cornea subjected to systemically used high dose methylprednisolone (MP) in a rabbit model. Methods: Twenty-four New Zealand White adult male rabbits were randomly divided into three equal groups as containing eight animals. The first group (n = 8) was used as the control group and nothing was applied to them, whereas the other 2 groups named as steroid groups were subjected to IM methylprednisolone injection at a dose of 20 mg/kg/day for three days. After three days of MP administration, only the third group was treated with 50-µg/mL O3 (20 mL O3) through the rectal insufflation for 14 sessions. The histopathological examination of corneas of three groups were made, and they were also assessed regarding the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 α (HIF-1α). Results: It was determined that systemically administered high dose MP caused erosion and necrosis in corneal epithelium and stromal disintegrations in corneal stroma in steroid groups (Group 2 and Group 3). In the MP + O3 group (Group 3), the histopathological findings were mild. The expression of HIF1-α in the cornea of Group1 (control group), Group 2 (MP), and Group 3 (MP-O3) was measured as, 17.9±9.6%, 3.1±1.0% and 6.4±1.9% respectively. Conclusions: MP and MP-O3 therapy decreased HIF-1a expression in rabbit cornea in both intervention groups. Between these two groups, HIF-1α expression remained relatively high in the MP-O3 group than in the MP group alone.