Development of Bioengineered Corneal Matrix for Reconstructive Surgery of Eye

Biomaterials for corneal tissue engineering should posses characteristics such as transparency, biocompatibility, non-immunogenicity and integration into the host. Tissue derived scaffolds are potentially valuable in this aspect. Decellularization makes the xenogenic tissue scaffolds non-immunogenic. Acellular corneal scaffolds were prepared by chemical decellularization of porcine corneas and were subsequently seeded with rabbit bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells. 1% SDS was proved to be efficient in removing cellular and nuclear elements which was confirmed by histopathology and scanning electron microscopy. Fourteen days culturing of mesenchymal stem cells over the scaffolds provided attachment and growth of cells on the scaffolds which was assessed by histopathology and scanning electron microscopy.