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Biocompatibility evaluation of bioprinted decellularized collagen sheet implanted in vivo cornea using swept‐source optical coherence tomography
Author(s) -
Park Jaeseok,
Lee KyoungPil,
Kim Hyeonji,
Park Sungjo,
Wijesinghe Ruchire E.,
Lee Jaeyul,
Han Sangyeob,
Lee Sangbong,
Kim Pilun,
Cho DongWoo,
Jang Jinah,
Kim Hong K.,
Jeon Mansik,
Kim Jeehyun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of biophotonics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1864-0648
pISSN - 1864-063X
DOI - 10.1002/jbio.201900098
Subject(s) - decellularization , cornea , biocompatibility , optical coherence tomography , biomedical engineering , materials science , transplantation , tissue engineering , corneal transplantation , extracellular matrix , in vivo , ophthalmology , medicine , surgery , chemistry , metallurgy , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Corneal transplantation by full‐thickness penetrating keratoplasty with human donor tissue is a widely accepted treatment for damaged or diseased corneas. Although corneal transplantation has a high success rate, a shortage of high‐quality donor tissue is a considerable limitation. Therefore, bioengineered corneas could be an effective solution for this limitation, and a decellularized extracellular matrix comprises a promising scaffold for their fabrication. In this study, three‐dimensional bioprinted decellularized collagen sheets were implanted into the stromal layer of the cornea of five rabbits. We performed in vivo noninvasive monitoring of the rabbit corneas using swept‐source optical coherence tomography (OCT) after implanting the collagen sheets. Anterior segment OCT images and averaged amplitude‐scans were acquired biweekly to monitor corneal thickness after implantation for 1 month. The averaged cornea thickness in the control images was 430.3 ± 5.9 μm, while the averaged thickness after corneal implantation was 598.5 ± 11.8 μm and 564.5 ± 12.5 μm at 2 and 4 weeks, respectively. The corneal thickness reduction of 34 μm confirmed the biocompatibility through the image analysis of the depth‐intensity profile base. Moreover, hematoxylin and eosin staining supported the biocompatibility evaluation of the bioprinted decellularized collagen sheet implantation. Hence, the developed bioprinted decellularized collagen sheets could become an alternative solution to human corneal donor tissue, and the proposed image analysis procedure could be beneficial to confirm the success of the surgery.