The cornea is one of the most innervated tissues in the body. This innervation, whose function is sensory, in turn has a notable influence on the trophic state of the rest of the cell types that make up the cornea. Corneal diseases or insults produce denervation, which compromise the integrity of the tissue and lead to neuroparalytic keratitis, a clinical picture that includes ulcers, eye pain and visual problems due to loss of transparency of the cornea. On the other hand, the epithelial cells of the cornea also play a role on the survival of corneal nerve endings; it has recently been shown that corneal epithelial cells replace Schwann cells in their trophic and axonal support functions in this tissue.

The CORNER project (CORneal NErve Regeneration after injury and surgery) proposes to explore in detail the cellular and molecular signaling mechanisms that are established between the sensory nerve endings and the different cellular components of the cornea (with special attention to the corneal epithelium). For this we will use cell cultures of sensory neurons and corneal epithelial cells, explants of trigeminal ganglia as well as the most modern massive sequencing technologies such as RNA-seq. This will allow us to identify neurotrophic factors produced by the cornea. Next, we will test the ability of these factors (as well as that of other candidates already described) to stimulate corneal reinnervation and improve the trophic state of the cornea after denervation. In addition to its application in the specific case of ocular pathologies, we trust that our findings will also serve as the basis for developing new pharmacological treatments that protect different tissues (skin, muscle, etc.) after accidents, surgery and genetic or inflammatory diseases of the peripheral nervous system.