Reconstructing auto tissue engineering lamellar cornea with aspartic acid modified acellular porcine corneal stroma and preconditioned limbal stem cell for corneal regeneration

Tissue engineering cornea has shown great clinical potential for cornea reconstruction, but efficient recovery of natural structure and physiological function remains great challenges. In this study, the acellular porcine corneal stroma (APCS) was prepared by a phospholipase A₂ decellularization method and further crosslinked with aspartic acid (Asp). The modified APCS-Asp scaffold showed significant increase of hydration degree, ultrastructure regularity, corneal viscoelasticity and anti-degradation ability compared to APCS. Autologous rabbit limbal tissue was pre-treated by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and collagenase IV, and the pretreated primary limbal stem cells (LSCs) were cultured with embryonic stem cells conditioned medium (ESCM), and LSCs showed 3D cell sphere structure and improved stem cell properties compared to the control group. The auto-tissue engineering lamellar cornea (ATELC) was quickly reconstructed by using peptide hydrogel with a dynamic culture system. With intact and functional epithelial cell layer, the reconstructed ATELC quickly recovered natural optical characteristics 1 week post transplantation in the rabbit lamellar keratoplasty model and satisfying neural regrowth as well as favorable stromal repopulation were observed in the transplanted eyes in the 6 months following up post-surgery. In summary, this study provides a comprehensive optimized reconstruction strategy for ATELC, which maybe similar medical application to natural cornea.