Human Corneal Endothelium: Growth in Tissue Cultures

The primary culture of rabbit corneal endothelium after isolation by trypsinization has been reported.1Although this technique was uniformly successful in rabbits and monkeys, identical experiments upon human eyes failed with rare exception. A modification in technique has afforded success in 18 consecutive experiments on human corneas and, therefore, is thought worthy of reporting. This paper describes the modified technique for isolation and the primary growth of human corneal endothelium in tissue culture and presents observations of cell activity and the appearance of the endothelial mitochondria. A brief summary of the isolation and growth techniques which were unsuccessful is also reported. Materials and Methods The studies utilized human eyes which were not required for corneal transplantation. The eyes, varying from 28 to 70 years-of-age, were removed under surgically aseptic conditions within six hours after death, and washed with 0.5% ophthalmic Neosporin* solution. Cell culture was established 24 to 72