Figure 1.
The construction process of auto-tissue-engineered lamellar cornea.
(A) Submersion culture (5 days). (B) Perfusion culture (3 days). (C) Dynamic air-liquid interface culture (with perfusion culture on the bottom surface, 3 days). (D) Dynamic air-liquid interface culture (with a dry chamber on the bottom surface, 12 hours). (E) Macroscopic view of ATELC-Dynamic in each stage of the construction process.
Figure 2.
The major components of the basement membrane in APCS (↓: basement membrane components, green: collagen IV, laminin, fibronectin and collagen VII, red: collagen I).
Figure 3.
The changes in histomorphology and DNA content during the construction process (▴: connection between neighbor cells, *: cellular nucleus,↓: desmosome).
(A) ATELC-Dynamic, after submersion culture. (B) ATELC-Dynamic, after perfusion culture. (C) ATELC-Dynamic, after dynamic air-liquid interface culture. (D) Negative control: ATELC-Static. (E) Positive control: NLC. (F) DNA contents of the NLC, ATELC-Dynamic, and ATELC-Static groups.
Figure 4.
The differentiation phenotype and adhesion property of the epithelium in ATELC-Dynamic.
(A) The expressions of K3, P63, ABCG2 proteins. (B) The expressions of zonula occludens-1, desmocollin-2 and integrin β4 proteins. (C) The ultrastructures of tight junction, desmosome junction and hemidesmosome junction. (D) ELISA assay of the zonula occludens-1, desmocollin-2 and integrin β4 proteins.
Figure 5.
Physiological functions of ATELC-Dynamic in vitro.
(A) Light transmittance over the 300–800 nm range of light wavelengths. (B) The areal modulus variation between 0 and 50 mmHg pressure differences.
Figure 6.
Physiological function of ATELC-Dynamic in a rabbit lamellar keratoplasty model.
(A) Postoperative observation of lamellar keratoplasty. (B) The light transmittance of transplanted lamellar cornea over the wavelength range of 300–800 nm at 20 days. (C) DiO-labeled seeding cells at 7 days, and the expression of collagen III at 20 days.