The role of serum-supplements in organ culture for pre-damaged corneal endothelium.

Thirty-six pig corneas were shaken in 0.18% NaCl to induce disseminated corneal endothelial damage. After treatment, the corneas were divided and cultured in 3 different combinations of media to study the effects of serum-supplements in corneal endothelial regeneration. There were MEM+10% FCS (FCS-group; n = 10); MEM+10% Nu-Serum (Nu-group; n = 10) and MEM only (control group; n = 16). After one week of culturing, most of the corneas in all 3 groups, despite the pre-damage, kept intact endothelia. This means that the endothelia were repaired whether the sera were supplemented or not. The cell densities of each were 2,454 +/- 450 cells/mm2, 2,776 +/- 476 cells/mm2 and 2,627 +/- 558 cells/mm2 respectively. The differences between each group were statistically insignificant. The morphological findings were also without much difference. When considering the risk of serum induced hypersensitivity, FCS can be replaced by Nu-Serum in the organ culture medium for corneal preservation. Since the advantage of serum-supplements in medium-term organ cultures seems limited, the necessity of serum supplements should be further reevaluated.