[Generation of bioartificial organs. The cornea as a model]

The development of bioartificial organs is a new target in the development of tissue engineering. It consists in the use of stem cells in a decellularized stroma of other organs. In this paper we present our previous experience in the construction of a complete artificial cornea using cell cultures and biomaterials and compare it with the construction of a bioartificial cornea using a decellularized porcine stroma. The results, in building this new type of cornea, showed that 1.5 M NaCl treatment of porcine corneas is able to generate an acellular corneal stroma with adequate histologic and optical properties and that human keratocytes are able to penetrate and spread within this scaffold with proper levels of cell differentiation. In contrast, 0.1% SDS treatment of porcine corneas resulted in high levels of fibril disorganization and poor optical behavior of these corneas.