Use of discarded corneo-scleral rims to create cornea-like tissue.
Mol Biol Rep
; 51(1): 391, 2024 Mar 06.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38446253
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Corneal disease is a major cause of blindness. Transplantation of cadaver-derived corneas (keratoplasty) is still the current therapy of choice; however, the global shortage of donor corneas continues to drive a search for alternatives. To this end, biosynthetic corneal substitutes have recently begun to gain importance. Here, we present a novel method for the generation of a cornea-like tissue (CLT), using corneo-scleral rims discarded after keratoplasty. METHODS ANDRESULTS:
Type I collagen was polymerized within the corneo-scleral rim, which functioned as a 'host' mould, directing the 'guest' collagen to polymerize into disc-shaped cornea-like material (CLM), displaying the shape, curvature, thickness, and transparency of normal cornea. This polymerization of collagen appears to derive from some morphogenetic influence exerted by the corneo-scleral rim. Once the CLM had formed naturally, we used collagen crosslinking to fortify it, and then introduced cells to generate a stratified epithelial layer to create cornea-like tissue (CLT) displaying characteristics of native cornea. Through the excision and reuse of rims, each rim turned out to be useful for the generation of multiple cornea-shaped CLTs.CONCLUSIONS:
The approach effectively helps to shorten the gap between demand and supply of CLMs/CLTs for transplantation. We are exploring the surgical transplantation of this CLT into animal eyes, as keratoprostheses, as a precursor to future applications involving human eyes. It is possible to use either the CLM or CLT, for patients with varying corneal blinding diseases.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Cornea
/
Collagen Type I
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Mol Biol Rep
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: