[In vitro study of endothelial tolerance of 10 culture media with special reference to the pump and barrier function]

We investigated ten commercially available tissue culture media in a series of perfusion experiments. Porcine cornea were perfused in groups of 10-15 with the media M 199 Earle, MEM Earle, MEM Hank, DMEM, RPMI 1640, Ham's F-12, BM-86 Wissler. Perfusions were done with and without the addition of 2% fetal calf serum. As a control, BSS PLUS (R) was used. We compared the change in corneal thickness in a 6-h perfusion interval. The corneal endothelium was present after all perfusion experiments. Evaluation of the changes in corneal thickness showed that culture media rich in bicarbonate support the endothelial pumping function. The presence of fetal calf serum had no influence on corneal thickness. The absence of glutathione in the culture media did not result in increased corneal thickness. Medium 199 with Earle salt, BSS Plus, DMEM, RPMI 1640 and Ham's F-12 gave the best results and may be considered possible intraocular irrigation solutions.