Fluorophotometric studies on postmortem changes in porcine corneal endothelial barrier functions

Using an in vitro fluorophotometric technique, we studied the effect of postmortem storage duration on the endothelial barrier function of porcine corneas. A marked decay in endothelial barrier function was demonstrated that correlated with duration of storage. This decay appears to be nearly complete after 2 weeks of storage. This loss of barrier function correlated grossly with ultrastructural changes demonstrated on scanning electron microscopy.