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Background: To investigate the long-term corneal stromal remodeling and central stromal thickness (CST) reduction accuracy after small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) for high myopia correction., Methods: This prospective study included 30 patients (50 eyes) who had undergone SMILE. Measurements of CST reduction using optical coherence tomography were performed at 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years after surgery. Correlations were performed between planned and achieved CST reductions., Results: The study enrolled 50 eyes of 30 patients. The mean spherical equivalent was -9.25±1.52 D(diopters). The postoperative CST increased in the first month after surgery and remained stable for a year. Thereafter, it remained stable during follow-up from 1 to 3 years postoperatively. The predicted CST reduction was 146.4 ± 10.3 μm. The achieved CST reductions at 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years after surgery were 135.3 ± 12.1 μm, 130.8 ± 10.6 μm, 125.9 ± 9.4 μm, and 122.2 ± 10.6 μm, respectively. An overestimation of CST reduction was observed three years after surgery. Correlation analysis revealed a strong correlation between planned and achieved CST reductions; however, no correlation was found between CST reductions predicted error and the planned CST reductions., Conclusion: During long-term follow-up, our findings revealed a significant stromal remodeling following SMILE in patients with high myopia. Therefore, clinicians should consider it when screening patients with high myopia for SMILE., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no financial or other conflicts of interest concerning this study., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Retinal neovascularization generally play roles in the formation of various severe eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. The regulation of neovascularization-related pathways by Sirtuin 3 (Sirt3), a major mitochondrial NAD + -dependent deacetylase, give us a cue that Sirt3 may participate in the retinal neovascularization. However, the mechanism remains unclear. Here, we established a retinal neovascularization model by using human retinal endothelial cells (HRECs) under the induction of high glucose and insulin (HGI). With this model, Sirt3-expressing lentivirus was constructed and then used to investigate the effect of Sirt3 overexpression on the expression of migration-, neovascularization- and autophagy-related genes. After the treatment of HGI on HRECs, the mRNA and protein levels of migration-related genes, including matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9, were significantly upregulated. Meanwhile, angiogenesis-related genes, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) were promoted at both mRNA and protein levels. However, HGI had no clear effect on the mRNA and protein levels of microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3), an autophagy-related gene. When Sirt3 was overexpressed by lentivirus infection after HGI, the upregulation of MMP-2, MMP-9, VEGF, HIF-1α, and IGF-1 were suppressed at both transcription and translation levels. At the same time, LC3 mRNA and LC3-II protein increased. These results suggest that Sirt3 may inhibit retinal neovascularization by regulating the migration-, neovascularization- and autophagy-related factors expression. Thus we argue that Sirt3 may be a potential candidate drug for curing various eye diseases induced by retinal neovascularization., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)