An attempt to construct the stroma of cornea using primary cultured corneal cells

The number of patients currently awaiting corneal transplantation has resulted in the need to develop an artificial corneal replacement. In this study, we aimed to construct the corneal stroma using non-transformed corneal cells and a perfusion cell culture method. Corneal cells isolated from chicken embryos or rabbit and were embedded in the alkaline solubilized collagen gels crosslinked by TSG (Pentaerythritol polyethyleneglycol ether tetrasuccinimidyl glutarate). During culture, the majority of cells migrated from inside of the gel. The chicken and rabbit cells changed their morphology and stratified structures were constructed within the gels. These microstructures were similar to the natural corneal tissue. TEM analysis was performed to confirm the nano-microstructure of the constructs. Contrary to expectation, the cornea-like nanostructure of collagen fibrils was not observed within the gels. Further study including for example, such as the addition of dynamic stress or co-culture with endothelial cells, are therefore required in order to produce artificial constructs with the same superstructure as natural corneal tissue.