Metabolic changes of the human donor cornea during organ‐culture

Abstract

ABSTRACT.Purpose: To study metabolic changes of the human cornea during organ-culture. Morphological changes have been extensively studied, whereas changes in human corneal metabolism have not been investigated yet. Material and Methods: 106 human corneas were stored for 1, 7, 15, 18, 21 and 28 days in a closed-system under standard eyebank conditions. After storage, glucose, lactate, ATP, ADP and AMP concentrations were determined in each cornea. Results: Glucose concentration decreased during the first two weeks with a minimum on day 15. ATP and ADP concentrations increased during the same period of time, but had their minimum later, on day 18. Lactate increased during the culture period up to day 21 and decreased thereafter. Conclusion: From these data we conclude that the human cornea recovers during organ-culture, especially during the first two weeks. The changes occurring after a fortnight might be related to the artificial culture conditions. Nevertheless, the metabolic status is better than in post-mortem corneas. The changes may be partly avoided by changing the medium after at least two weeks of organ-culture.

Use of a serum-free medium for long-term storage of human corneas. Influence on endothelial cell density and corneal metabolism

“…The most pronounced decrease in cell density was observed within the first week of cultivation irrespective of serum supplementation of the medium. A similar endothelial cell loss also occurs in medium MEM and seems to be related to adaptation to the artificial culture conditions [9].…”

“…Analysis of metabolic changes in organ-cultured donor corneas showed that the corneas recover during organ culture, especially during the first 2 weeks. Improved biochemical values were found during the first 4 weeks and acceptable conditions for only up to 6 weeks [8,9]. After 4 weeks of culture, the entire population of keratocytes was found to be still alive, but in contrast to the situation after 2 weeks only very few mitotic keratocytes could be detected [7].…”

“…The determination of glucose consumption did not reveal a decrease in metabolic activity of the corneas during the observation period. More detailed methods as applied by Redbrake et al [9] and Møller-Pedersen and Møller [7] would be necessary to analyse the effect of the medium Endothelial-SFM on corneal metabolism.…”

Beeinflussen verschiedene Hornhaut-Kulturmethoden das Transplantatüberleben?

“…Dies konnte aufgrund einer geringeren Immunitat, wie z. B. Downregulierung von HLA-DR-Antigenen oder Auswandern von Langerhanszellen [1] oder aber aufgrund einer besseren Stoffwechsellage in Organkultur beruhen [22]. Eine weitere Moglichkeit ist eine bessere Kontrolle der Hornhautbank, da ja vor Transplantation nochmals die Qualitat einer Hornhaut gepruft wird and eventuelle schlechtere Transplantate noch ausgeschieden werden konnen and sich dadurch ein gewisser positiver Effekt durch gezieltere and verbesserte Transplantatauswahl ergibt, bzw.…”

Time Course of Antibiotic and Antifungal Concentrations in Corneal Organ Culture

“…Therefore, we recommend increasing the initial concentration to 5 mg/mL, the highest concentration found to be nontoxic to endothelial cells. 9 In Bern, where a medium change is performed for metabolic reasons at day 14 as suggested by Redbrake et al, 23 the amphotericin B concentration will exceed the highest MIC for Candida during the 14-day period of storage for both possible …”