Electro-spun Membranes as Scaffolds for Human Corneal Endothelial Cells

ABSTRACTBackground: Corneal endothelial dysfunction remains the most frequent indication for corneal transplantation, limited by donor material shortage, poor long-term graft survival, or allogeneic graft rejection. Therefore, tissue-engineered endothelial grafts (TEEG) represent a promising alternative to human donor tissue. In this study, we generated electro-spun scaffolds and tested these for their suitability for human corneal endothelial cell (hCEC) cultivation.Methods: The polymers poly(methyl-methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), and polycaprolactone (PCL) were spun with equal parameters. HCEC-12 was cultured on the scaffolds for 3 to 7 days. Scaffolds were evaluated by light microscopy, porometry, light transmission, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), live/dead staining and cell viability assay.Results: Electro-spun fibers from PMMA (2.99 ± 0.24 µm) showed significantly higher diameters than PCL (2.29 ± 0.11 µm; p = 0.003) and PLGA (1.84 ± 0.21 µm; p < 0.001), while fibers ...