Hyaluronic acid (HA) ophthalmic solution is widely used in dry eye treatment worldwide. However, there are no reports comparing the dry eye treatment effects of high molecular weight HA with low molecular weight HA. Sixty eight-week-old C57BL/6 mice were assigned to the following 6 groups and exposed to environmental dry eye stress (EDES) that mimics office work environment: 1) 0.1% low molecular weight HA (LMWHA) eye drops, 2) 0.3% LMWHA eye drops, 3) 3% diquafosol sodium (DQ) eye drops, 4) 0.15% high molecular weight HA (HMWHA) eye drops, 5) no treatment with exposure to EDES (EDES+/Treatment-), and 6) no treatment without exposure to EDES (EDES-/Treatment-). After EDES, the HMWHA group had significantly longer break-up time (BUT) than the 0.1%, 0.3% LMWHA groups and the DQ group. After EDES, the HMWHA group had significantly lower lissamine green staining scores than the LMWHA and DQ groups. Subepithelial presumed dendritic cell density in the HMWHA group was significantly lower than the EDES+/Treatment- group. After EDES exposure, Conjunctival Muc5AC mRNA expression in the HMWHA group was significantly higher than the 0.1 and 0.3% LMWHA groups. Ophthalmic HMWHA solution may have a better dry eye treatment effect than LMWHA or DQ solution, owing to its anti-inflammatory effect.
Keywords: Muc5AC; corneal subbasal dendritic cell density; dry eye; high molecular weight hyaluronic acid; ocular surface staining; treatment.