{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T11:34:43Z","timestamp":1776944083475,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776902400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate whether deferoxamine modulates cell biological properties, such as proliferation and wound closure of porcine corneal endothelial cells (CECs) in vitro, and whether the treatment of CECs with deferoxamine results in an enhanced expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Materials and Methods: Corneal endothelial cells were extracted from porcine globes within 24 h postmortem. Immunohistochemistry for the endothelial Na+\/K+-ATPase was performed to confirm the cells\u2019 endothelial origin. To assess CEC viability and proliferation, a water-soluble tetrazolium salt (WST-1) and 5-bromo-2\u2032-deoxyuridine (BrdU) assay were performed. Corneal endothelial wound closure was evaluated using a wound closure assay. VEGF mRNA expression was evaluated using real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR). Results: The extracted corneal endothelial cells showed a typical hexagonal morphology with Na+\/K+-ATPase staining of the cell membrane. The treatment with 200 \u00b5M deferoxamine significantly increased CEC viability to 121 \u00b1 24% compared to the control group (p = 0.0024). Corneal endothelial cell proliferation did not show any significant changes under the treatment with deferoxamine (p &gt; 0.05). Both 100 \u00b5M and 200 \u00b5M deferoxamine led to a significantly smaller remaining wound area of 82.4 \u00b1 6.7% and 78.7 \u00b1 6.2% (p &lt; 0.0001) in comparison to the control group after 24 h of treatment in the wound closure assay. Treatment with 200 \u00b5M deferoxamine significantly induced VEGF mRNA expression to 1.67- \u00b1 0.57-fold from 1.00- \u00b1 0.03-fold in the control group (p = 0.0006). Conclusions: Deferoxamine effectively enhances corneal endothelial cell viability and wound healing associated with an overexpression of VEGF. Thus, deferoxamine is a potent modulator of cell biological properties of corneal endothelial cells and maintains their integrity in vitro.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina62050808","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T10:10:17Z","timestamp":1776939017000},"page":"808","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Deferoxamine Modulates Corneal Endothelial Cell Biological Properties Associated with Increased VEGF Expression"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"62","author":[{"given":"Barbara Sophie","family":"Brunner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Mathildenstrasse 8, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-2865-1338","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul","family":"Emesz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Mathildenstrasse 8, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7815-6289","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nikolaus","family":"Luft","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Mathildenstrasse 8, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5580-612X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Siegfried Georg","family":"Priglinger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Mathildenstrasse 8, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7101-9361","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andreas","family":"Ohlmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Mathildenstrasse 8, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0707-9551","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefan","family":"Kassumeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Mathildenstrasse 8, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1016\/S1542-0124(12)70232-X","article-title":"Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy","volume":"8","author":"Elhalis","year":"2010","journal-title":"Ocul. 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