Histological differences in full-thickness vs. lamellar corneal pig-to-rabbit xenotransplantation

To evaluate the differences in graft survival and histopathological characteristics between full-thickness and lamellar orthotopic corneal xenotransplantation in a pig-to-rabbit model, we orthotopically transplanted a full-thickness or the anterior half of a pig's cornea onto the OD of 16 rabbits. As a result, the median survival were 16.83 and 29.07 days for the full-thickness and lamellar xenografts, respectively (P = 0.0005). Histologically, the full-thickness corneal xenografts had massive infiltration by eosinophils, whereas the lamellar xenografts showed predominantly mononuclear infiltrates (P < 0.05). Given these preliminary findings, lamellar corneal xenografts in rabbits survived longer than the full-thickness xenografts and each type of graft demonstrated different rejection mechanisms.