[Ultrastructural study of human cornea preserved in organ culture media at +31 degrees C].

Organ culture becomes a standard method of corneal graft preservation. The aim of the study was to evaluate the preservation injuries induced by organ culture. We examined 12 organ cultured human corneas. Corneas were preserved in the medium for 2 to 21 days. Corneas showed some abnormalities: numerous light vacuoles, mitochondrial swelling and increased cell thickness in all cells of the cornea, sloughing of the external and medium epithelial cell layers. We observed normal endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and nucleus. These preservation injuries are moderate and reversible.