Extending Corneal Storage With 2.5% Chondroitin Sulfate (K-Sol)

Abstract

K-SoI"' corneal storage medium maintains corneal viability for at least ten days, compared with McCareyKaufman (M-K) medium, which does so for a reported maximum of three days. Since many eye banks still use M-K medium exclusively, stored corneas must be used without undue delay, and shipping time further hastens the planned surgery time. Transferring the shipped M-K medium-stored cornea to K-SoI offers a simple way of increasing storage time in our eye bank. Ninety-five out of 100 transferred corneas (95%) remained clear 3 to 18 months postoperatively. There were no primary graft failures, and transferred corneal mates were clear. A comparable series of 100 corneas stored in M-K medium alone, or in K-SoI alone, were clear in 93% and 97% of the transplants. Analysis of donor rims after keratoplasty indicated statistically significantly more endothelial cell loss during storage in corneas transferred to K-SoI compared with 18 corneas preserved only in M-K medium for a similar length of time. There was no statistical significance between the transferred group and the group preserved in only K-SoI. Transferring M-K medium stored corneas to K-SoI medium may be a useful means of extending corneal storage time, resulting in improved tissue utilization.

Bioactive Composition of Pig Laryngeal Cartilage Extracts and Their Free Radical-scavenging Activity

“…To the authors' knowledge, there are few reports about the nutritional and hygienical components of pig laryngeal cartilage and its papain hydrolysate. Many researches were only focused on the production of ChS and its application such as cosmetics and biochemicals, for example, eye drops (Keates and Rabin, 1988;Lagocka et al, 1996;Nakano et al, 2001). ChS from bovine trachea has been shown to have chondroprotective effects in experimental animals mainly due to its free radical-scavenging activity (Dean et al, 1991;Campo et al, 2002).…”

The Evolution of Eye Banking and Corneal Transplantation

“…In 1974, McCarey-Kaufman (M-K) medium was described. 12 Continued experience with tissue storage medium disclosed the finding that chondroitin sulfate-containing medium promoted increased corneal swelling compared with dextran-containing medium. 9 Before its development, enucleated globes were placed in moisture chamber storage as described by Filatov.…”