Mohammadi Saman, Postnikoff Cameron, Wright Ann M, Gorbet Maud
Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave., Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2014 Sep;42(9):1923-31. doi: 10.1007/s10439-014-1045-1. Epub 2014 Jun 13.
Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the corneal tissue and translating them into effective therapies requires organotypic culture systems that can better model the physiological conditions of the front of the eye. Human corneal in vitro models currently exist, however, the lack of tear replenishment limits corneal in vitro models' ability to accurately simulate the physiological environment of the human cornea. The tear replenishment system (TRS), a micro-fluidic device, was developed to mimic the in vivo tear replenishment in the human eye in an in vitro corneal model. The TRS is capable of generating adjustable intermittent flow from 0.1 µL in every cycle. The TRS is a sterilizable device that is designed to fit standard 6-well cell culture plates. Experiments with the corneal models demonstrated that exposure to the TRS did not damage the integrity of the stratified cell culture. Contact lenses "worn" by the in vitro corneal model also remained moist at all times and the cytotoxicity of BAK could also be verified using this model. These in vitro results confirmed that the TRS presents novel avenues to assess lens-solution biocompatibility and drug delivery systems in a physiologically relevant milieu.
了解角膜组织的细胞和分子机制并将其转化为有效的治疗方法，需要能够更好地模拟眼前部生理状况的器官型培养系统。目前存在人角膜体外模型，然而，缺乏泪液补充限制了角膜体外模型准确模拟人角膜生理环境的能力。泪液补充系统（TRS）是一种微流控装置，旨在在体外角膜模型中模拟人眼体内的泪液补充。TRS能够在每个周期产生0.1微升的可调间歇性流动。TRS是一种可消毒的装置，设计用于适配标准的6孔细胞培养板。角膜模型实验表明，暴露于TRS不会损害分层细胞培养的完整性。体外角膜模型“佩戴”的隐形眼镜也始终保持湿润，并且使用该模型还可以验证BAK的细胞毒性。这些体外结果证实，TRS为在生理相关环境中评估镜片-溶液生物相容性和药物递送系统提供了新途径。
