Department of Ophthalmology, New Zealand National Eye Centre, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Department of Ophthalmology, New Zealand National Eye Centre, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Exp Eye Res. 2021 Aug;209:108661. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2021.108661. Epub 2021 Jun 5.
There is an international shortage of donor corneas for transplantation to treat the 1.5-2.0 million new cases of blindness secondary to corneal disease. Research has therefore been directed towards the development of artificial corneas using alternative materials such as collagen. The biocompatibility of an acellular collagen-based scaffold for anterior lamellar keratoplasty was investigated in vivo in a rabbit model. This scaffold has previously shown promise as a corneal substitute in vitro. Slit-lamp and Optical Coherence Tomography examinations were carried out at 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, and 6 months post-operatively. Graft-host integration was investigated using immunohistochemistry of the cornea at 6 months. Results showed that the graft was biocompatible, supported corneal re-epithelialisation, and showed no signs of rejection. Migration of stromal cells into areas of the graft was observed, however this was accompanied by extensive graft digestion. Whilst the scaffold was biocompatible, further modifications to the material or supplementation with matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors are required to bring us closer to a stable and fully integrated corneal substitute.
由于用于治疗因角膜疾病而导致的 150 万至 200 万例新失明病例的供体角膜短缺，因此研究人员一直在致力于开发使用胶原蛋白等替代材料的人工角膜。本研究旨在体内兔模型中研究脱细胞胶原基支架在前部层状角膜移植中的生物相容性。该支架之前在体外作为角膜替代物显示出了应用前景。术后 2 周、1 个月、2 个月、3 个月和 6 个月进行裂隙灯和光学相干断层扫描检查。术后 6 个月通过免疫组织化学检查对角膜进行移植物-宿主整合的研究。结果表明，移植物具有生物相容性，支持角膜再上皮化，并且没有排斥迹象。尽管支架具有生物相容性，但需要对材料进行进一步修改或添加基质金属蛋白酶抑制剂，才能更接近稳定和完全整合的角膜替代物。
