With the increase in availability and use of contact lenses over the past few years, the number of cases of contact lens associated disease or discomfort has also risen. One such cause of these problems is thought to be an interference or alteration of the natural pattern of the tears in people who wear contact lenses. Contact lenses not only disrupt the film by their bulky physical presence; they may also absorb certain tear film constituents and can leak chemicals into the tears. Complications in pinpointing changes in the tears occur due to the nature of the tear film. With a trilaminar appearance, the Precorneal Tear Film consists of an external lipid layer, a middle aqueous layer, and the third mucosal layer, which is in contact with the cornea itself. The problems observed with lens wear could result from an alteration in just one of these layers or from a complex combination of changes across the layers. Due to the complications outlined above, various groups are working to study the separate components of the tears, using varied techniques. Within this study, the focus of work will be with regards to the protein component of the tears. Techniques chosen here are High Performance Liquid Chromatography (H.P.L.C.), one- and twodimensional PolyAcrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (P.A.G.E.) and Western Blotting. The hope is that, either in isolation or combination, these methods of analysis will provide some new insight into the pattern of tear proteins in contact lens wear. In addition the protein deposition with different lens types and wear regimes will be explored as will the 'normal' tear pattern. This will be achieved via the study of the tears of asymptomatic contact lens wearers and non-wearers as well as extracts derived from worn lenses. Future work based on the comparison of normal tear patterns to those of contact lens associated disorder sufferers may yield important benefits in time with regard to diagnosis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:393295 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Olsen, Matthew R. |
| Publisher | Aston University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://publications.aston.ac.uk/9650/ |
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