Bacterial cellulose and bacterial cellulose/polycaprolactone composite as tissue substitutes in rabbits' cornea

Abstract

In order to test the performance of bacterial cellulose/polycaprolactone composite (BC/PCL) and pure bacterial cellulose (BC) as tissue substitutes in rabbits' cornea, a superficial ulcer containing 5mm in diameter and 0.2mm deep was made in the right cornea of 36 rabbits, then a interlayer pocket was created from the basis of this ulcer. Twelve rabbits received BC/PCL membrane and 12 were treated with BC membranes, both membranes with 8mm in diameter. The remaining rabbits received no membrane constituting the control group. The animals were clinically followed up for 45 days. Three animals of each group were euthanized at three, seven, 21, and 45 days after implantation for histological examination of the cornea along with the implant. Clinical observation revealed signs of moderate inflammatory process, decreasing from day 20th in the implanted groups. Histology showed absence of epithelium on the membranes, fibroplasia close to the implants, lymph inflammatory infiltrate with giant cells, collagen disorganization, with a predominance of immature collagen fibers in both groups with implants. Although inflammatory response is acceptable, the membranes used does not satisfactorily played the role of tissue substitute for the cornea during the study period.

Applications of bacterial-synthesized cellulose in veterinary medicine – a review

“…As BC has a porous structure and fibre arrangement, it acts as a support for a variety of reinforcements. The attached particles provide additional properties (antibacterial, transparency, resistance) to BC that enhance its natural biological and physiochemical properties (Yang et al 2012;Sepúlveda et al 2016).…”

“…Corneal injuries and ulcers require emergency keratoplasty to restore eye integrity and prevent complications (Sepúlveda et al 2016). Ocular destructive processes (lacrimal abnormalities and traumas) determine ulcerative keratitis, which gives high morbidity (Macedo et al 2010).…”

“…Ocular destructive processes (lacrimal abnormalities and traumas) determine ulcerative keratitis, which gives high morbidity (Macedo et al 2010). Corneal disease is the major cause of blindness; therefore, a wide variety of materials were tested as corneal transplants (Wang et al 2010;Ahmed et al 2013;Sepúlveda et al 2016). Polyvinyl alcohol is a polymer with light transparency and nutrition permeability, but it has low cell affinity.…”

Biocompatibility evaluation of bacterial cellulose as a scaffold material for tissue-engineered corneal stroma

“…However, no study so far has dealt with the behavior of epithelial cells on BC. Moreover, the sole in vivo study on the use of BC for cornea replacement, performed by Sepúlveda, demonstrated moderate inflammatory response (Sepúlveda et al 2016), which contradicted with the in vitro studies. Therefore, there is an urgent need to verify the feasibility of BC as the cornea scaffold material.…”

“…Unlike many previous works that conducted in vitro experiments, we conducted in vivo studies by adopting a protocol to further confirm the feasibility of BC as cornea scaffold material, which was different from that employed by Sepúlveda et al who demonstrated moderate inflammatory process during the clinical observation after BC implantation (Sepúlveda et al 2016). In Sepúlveda's work, a corneal ulcer was inflicted firstly, and an interlayer pocket from the base of the ulcer was made afterwards, for insertion and positioning of the membranes in the animals that received the membranes.…”