Lipidomics Profiles Revealed Alterations in Patients With Meibomian Gland Dysfunction After Exposure to Intense Pulsed Light

Hui Zhao; Shi-Nan Wu; Yi Shao; Dong Xiao; Li-Ying Tang; Zhe Cheng; Jie Peng

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.827544

Lipidomics Profiles Revealed Alterations in Patients With Meibomian Gland Dysfunction After Exposure to Intense Pulsed Light

Front Neurol. 2022 Feb 15:13:827544. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.827544. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hui Zhao¹, Shi-Nan Wu², Yi Shao², Dong Xiao¹, Li-Ying Tang³, Zhe Cheng³, Jie Peng¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangxi Province Ocular Disease Clinical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.

Abstract

So far, intense pulsed light (IPL) has been widely used in the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), but there was still a lack of research on its specific mechanism. Determining whether there was a correlation between liposome changes and remission of clinical signs in patients with MGD treated with IPL was of great significance in the clinical evaluation of efficacy in patients with MGD. Our study enrolled the 10 healthy subjects and 26 adult patients, who were diagnosed with MGD and had not received any alternative treatments for at least 3 months. Each patient received a series of three treatments at 3-week intervals. The meibum was collected before the first treatment (T0) and the third treatment (T2). The significant changes in ocular surface parameters before and after IPL treatment were analyzed. The results showed that IPL significantly improved the symptoms of MGD, including ocular surface disease index (OSDI), tear breakup time (TBUT), redness of conjunctival (CR), corneal fluorescein staining (CF), the meibomian gland expressibility (MGE), and meibum quality (all p < 0.05). Lipidomics analysis of the meibum characterized the changes in lipid profiles induced by IPL. A total of 323 lipid species compounds were identified in the spectrum. A total of 41 lipid species were significantly different in patients with MGD (T0) vs. healthy controls. Following IPL treatment (T2), 24 lipid species were significantly different compared with T0: TG (10 lipid species), LPC (6 lipid species), OAHFA (4 lipid species), Cer (2 lipid species), SM (1 lipid species), and PE (1 lipid specie). Among these lipids, 4 of the lipids was a high correlation with TBUT, 5 was TH, 6 was CR, and 11 was meibum quality. In a ward, IPL treatment can achieve the therapeutic effect by changing the alternations of tear film lipids in patients with MGD. The changes in lipid expression profiles are potential indexes to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of IPL treatment or other treatments on MGD.

Keywords: disease markers; dry eye; intense pulsed light; lipidomics; meibomian gland dysfunction.