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Revisiting corneal storage using a bioreactor: proof of concept
Author(s) -
GAIN P,
BERNARD A,
NEFZAOUI C,
CAMPOLMI N,
GRIOT O,
ACQUART S,
PISELLI S,
THURET G
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2012.t096.x
Subject(s) - cornea , corneal transplantation , biomedical engineering , eye bank , chemistry , materials science , ophthalmology , medicine
Purpose Cold storage (CS) or organ culture (OC) for corneal storage, have not been dramatically improved since the 70’. Basically, they consist of immersion of the cornea in a sealed vial or viewing chamber filled with storage medium containing macromolecules for permanent (CS) or sequential (OC) deswelling. None respects the corneal physiology (higher pressure to the endothelial side associated with a retrocorneal fluid circulation), resulting more or less rapidly in endothelial cell (EC) death, stromal swelling and Descemet folding (for OC) that accentuate EC death. In the past, several artificial chambers were built or patented, mainly for toxicology experiments and never with a view to improve graft storage. We developed a corneal bioreactor (BR) that reconstitutes both pressure and continuous slow medium renewal in order to improve corneal storage Methods The BR (patented) comprised sterile endothelial and epithelial chambers closed with transparent windows to allow easy controls (transparency, thickness, detection of interfaces, and EC count) from both sides. Adjustable fluid flow and pressure (15‐30 mmHg) in the endothelial side were maintained by a disposable infusion system connected to a microsolenoid valve controlled by a pressure sensor and a microcontroller. Furthermore, the height of the epithelial window could be adjusted to aplanate the cornea for femtosecond laser cut Results The BR maintained a stable gradient of pressure during at least 5 weeks with a controlled flow. A few hours after insertion of the cornea in the BR, transparency improved and thickness and folding decreased and were maintained without deswelling molecules Conclusion The BR could improve corneal storage in eye banks