Human cornea organ cultures: epithelial-endothelial interactions.

Full-thickness explants of five human corneas grown in organ culture demonstrate that the migration of epithelium and endothelium is mutually limited once contact between the two cell types has been established. Two human corneas, however, failed to show this contact inhibition, and corneal epithelium surrounded completely the explant; both corneas showed cornea guttata. The implications of corneal epithelium-endothelium contact inhibition, and the failure of such inhibition, are discussed.