EFFECTS OF HUMAN RECOMBINANT BFGF ON ENDO THELIAL WOUND-HEALING IN ORGANOCULTURE (-DEGREES-C) OF HUMAN CORNEAS(31)

Purpose The effects of human recombinant bFGF has been evaluated on 9 paired human donor corneas (age 75 +/- 8 years), preserved in organ cu lture medium. Material and methods The endothelium of corneas were mec hanically wounded (area of 7.53 +/- 2.05 mm(2)) and placed in culture medium during 14 days. For each pair, one cornea was tested with bFGF (50 ng/ml), delivered in two times (day 0, day 7), according to the st ockage of the bFGF on the basal membranes (low affinity receptor), whi le the ipsilateral cornea served as control. Endothelium was assessed by trypan staining at day 0, day 7, and day 14. At this term of fourte enth day, alizarine red and trypan blue staining permitted morphometri c data. Results The bFGF factor increases significantly cell density i n the wound area (p < 0.05), and in the transitional area (p < 0.01), compared to the control group. In the transitional area, cells depleti on was only 15% (392 +/- 55 cells/mm(2)) in the treated group compared to the 23% (716 +/- 0.1 cells/mm(2)) in the untreated group. In the w ound area, the mean cell area was averaged 2581 mu m(2) in the control group and 2161 mu m(2) in the bFGF treated group (p < 0.05); in the t ransitional area the mean cell size was 549 mu m(2), and 479 mu m(2) i n the control and the bFGF treated group (p < 0.05) respectively. The bFGF group do not affect the shape factor. Conclusion This assay demon strates that human bFGF greatly facilitates wound closure in endotheli um of human cornea. The cellular migration from the transitional zone seems the dominant healing mechanism.