Colourful Cornea

Lymphatic vessels carry the plasma that gets squeezed out of blood vessels back to the heart, along with white blood cells. Their growth is called lymphangiogenesis (LA). Sometimes, LA aiming to get the correct fluid balance in tissues, can actually contribute to diseases. Herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) affects the cornea – the clear dome that covers the eyeball – and is the most common infectious cause of blindness in developed countries. Scientists studying what controls LA found that a protein called gal-8 promotes it, and that eliminating gal-8 in mice reduced the damage caused by HSK. The image shows gal-8 (green) and the structural molecule collagen (red) in an injured mouse cornea, with the cell nuclei in blue. The researchers are also investigating how gal-8 interacts with other molecules key to vessel growth. Understanding LA better could help in many conditions, including diabetes and rejection of transplanted organs.

Written by Esther Redhouse White

Esther Redhouse White

Writer

A recent Biochemistry graduate from York, Esther has worked on bacterial killing proteins and genetic switches in worms. In her spare time she likes visiting museums full of skeletons.

• Image from work by Wei-Sheng Chen and colleagues
• Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in Nature Communications, April 2016