Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we measured the concentration of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in human aqueous humor and serum from 36 eyes of 33 patients and analyzed the relationship between HGF and several parameters of corneal endothelial cells. Aqueous HGF concentrations ranged from 0.020-0.194 ng/mL (average: 0.101 +/- 0.044 ng/mL) and was correlated positively with corneal ...

Purpose Develop a silk fibroin (SF)-based artificial endothelial graft for its use in a rabbit Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK). Methods Human and rabbit artificial corneal endothelial grafts were developed through the culture of human and rabbit corneal endothelial cells (CECs) on SF films. Rabbit artificial SF endothelial grafts were transplanted in a DMEK surgery into a ra...

AIM To investigate whether human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) could be made to attach, grow and differentiate on a human Descemet's membrane (DM). METHODS Spontaneously differentiated hESCs were transferred onto a human corneal button with the endothelial layer removed using ocular sticks. The cells were cultured on a DM for up to 15 d. The genetically engineered hESC line expressed green flu...

PURPOSE Previous studies have suggested that the disappearance of anterior keratocytes after injury to the overlying epithelium is mediated by apoptosis. The authors examined the expression of the apoptosis-related modulators, Fas (receptor), Fas ligand, Bax, Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, and interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE) in corneal cells as candidate mediators of this response and tested the eff...

Corneal endothelial dysfunction is a major cause of visual impairment, since these cells maintain corneal transparency. Although surgical techniques have been developed to replace abnormal corneal endothelium, these procedures are technically difficult and challenging due to a shortage of donor corneas. Regenerative medicine uses specially grown tissues to replace injured ones and has been succ...

PURPOSE To examine the expression of transforming growth factor family members bone morphogenic proteins 2 and 4 (BMP2, BMP4), their receptor mRNAs, and BMP2 and BMP4 proteins in the cells of the human cornea. The effects of BMP2 and BMP4 on corneal fibroblast proliferation and apoptosis were also examined. METHODS Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, immunoprecipitation, and west...

neovascularization of the normally avascular cornea was associated with a notable increase in the expression of the major pro-angiogenic factors, inflammatory cytokines and proteases. the data supporting a causal role for vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf), inflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinase (mmps) are extensive. anti-angiogenic/anti-inflammatory therapy is considered as...

Study background: Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) allows selective replacement of the diseased corneal endothelium. However, DSAEK requires a donor cornea and the worldwide shortage of corneas limits its application. In this review, we introduce our recent work on tissue engineering for DSAEK using cultured human corneal endothelial cells (HCEC) and recently publis...

PURPOSE We evaluated the in vivo functionality of a corneal endothelium tissue-engineered using corneal endothelial cells from human patients with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD). METHODS A total of 15 healthy cats underwent full-thickness corneal transplantation. All transplants were of xenogeneic human origin and all grafts but two were tissue-engineered. In seven animals the gra...