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Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Corneal Donor Tissue Preparation for Descemet's Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty
Published on: September 17, 2014
Postmortem ultrastructural analysis of a cornea transplanted with Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty
Eitan Livny1, Jack S Parker, Mariëlle van der Kaaij
1*Melles Cornea Clinic Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; †Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; ‡Amnitrans Eye Bank Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and §Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Purpose:
The aim of this study was to describe the ultrastructure of the host-donor interface in the eye of a recently deceased patient, who had undergone Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty.
Methods:
The eye was enucleated postmortem, and after standard decontamination, the corneoscleral button was excised, cut into 4 quadrants, and processed for light and transmission electron microscopy evaluation.
Results:
Transmission electron microscopy revealed close attachment of the donor's Descemet membrane to the host's stroma and projection of stromal collagen fibers into the interfacial matrix, resembling a normal "virgin" corneal architecture.
Conclusions:
Ultrastructurally, an attached Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty graft closely resembles that of an unoperated, healthy eye with no appreciable adventitious or missing structures.
