Abstract
Purpose :
To compare the success rate of endothelial cell cultures from young donor corneas (≤30 years old) with the Descemet membrane pre-stripped by trained eye bank technicians versus a research scientist at a cell culture laboratory.
Methods :
Corneas from donors aged 30 or less were used in this study. The Descemet membrane was either pre-stripped by an experienced eye bank technician prior to shipping to the research scientist or prepared by the research scientist immediately prior to culture initiation. Endothelial cells from both cohorts were cultured using the same culturing protocol. Culture success rate (measured by cell morphology, gene identity panel, and cell density after seeding on a collagen matrix) was compared between the two cohorts. Student’s t-tests were used to determine statistical significance of donor characteristics and success rate, with significance defined as P≤0.05.
Results :
There was no statistical difference in donor characteristics: donor age (22±8 v. 20±7 years, P=0.67), ECD (3210±454 v. 3186±414 cells/mm2, P=0.92), and death to preservation time (14:25±4:31 v 12:17±12:22 hours, P=0.72). Additionally, the time from death to culture initiation was analyzed and there was no statistical difference (6.5±2 v. 6.8±3 days, P=0.83). There was no statistical difference in culture success rate between the eye bank pre-stripped (n=11) and researcher stripped (n=12) cohorts. There were no instances of culture contamination, and the cells expressed the proper cell identity markers for corneal endothelial cells. Cultured grafts seeded on collagen matrixes have similar ECD (P>0.05).
Conclusions :
There is no difference in endothelial cell culture success rate between corneas pre-stripped by trained eye bank technician and corneas prepared solely by research scientist. Thus, eye banks can utilize their established facilities and procedures to provide pre-stripped young donor corneas for endothelial cell culturing for transplantation. This can potentially save cell culture researchers and graft manufacturers valuable production time and equipment costs while maximizing the number of cells recovered from stripping procedures performed by a trained eye bank technician.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.