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Updated: Aug 4, 2026

Ex Vivo Organotypic Corneal Model of Acute Epithelial Herpes Simplex Virus Type I Infection
Published on: November 3, 2012
Ascorbic acid content of human corneal epithelium
R F Brubaker1, W M Bourne, L A Bachman
1Department of Ophthalmology, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. brubaker.richard@mayo.edu
Purpose:
To measure the concentration of ascorbic acid in the human corneal epithelium.
Methods:
Corneal epithelium was removed from postmortem eyes 4 to 16 hours after death and ascorbate measured by high-performance liquid chromatography.
Results:
The concentration of ascorbate was 1.33 +/- 0.48 mg/gm wet weight (mean +/- SD), estimated to be 14 times its concentration in the aqueous humor.
Conclusions:
Ascorbate can protect the basal layer of the epithelium by absorption of incident ultraviolet radiation.

