[Experimental studies on chitosan blend membrane as scaffold carriers for cultivating rabbit corneal endothelial...

Un-transfected rabbit corneal endothelial cells (RCECs) were cultivated, using chitosan blend membrane 4ha (chitosan-hyaluronic acid), 631ha (chitosan-hyaluronic acid) and 631s (chitosan-chondroitine sulfate) as scaffold carriers. Their biocompatibilities were studied in regard to cell adherence, morphological changes, growth status and monolayer forming abilities. The results indicated that RCECs cultivated on 4ha and 631ha carriers tended to be aggregated and even desquamated to some extent in local areas, and even more severely on 631ha carrier. And the RCECs cultivated on 631ha carrier could form almost a monolayer 48h later, and those on 4ha carrier could not. Contrarily, the RCECs cultivated on 631s carrier were evenly distributed and were in good status of growth with a good adherence and fibroblast-like morphology which could form almost a monolayer 48h later. And a complete monolayer was formed and was tightly attached to the 631s carrier 72h later. From the above results, it can be concluded that 631s carrier is most probably an ideal scaffold carrier for RCEC cultivation. 631s carrier may have the potential for use in the development of tissue-engineered rabbit corneal endothelium.