title: Growth of human corneal endothelial cells in culture.
abstract: We investigated the effects of various culture conditions on the growth of normal human corneal endothelial cells in culture. Falcon Primaria tissue culture plastic was found to provide a more suitable surface for endothelial cell growth than the conventional Corning tissue culture plastic. Also, media containing 10% fetal bovine serum and 5% calf serum (complete media) facilitated the growth of human cells better than those containing Nu-serum. Supplementation with epidermal or fibroblast growth factor (10 and 100 ng/ml) to the complete media had no effect on human endothelial cell growth. Chondroitin sulfate at low concentrations (100 micrograms/ml to 1 mg/ml) also showed little effect. At high concentrations (13.5 and 25 mg/ml), however, chondroitin sulfate significantly promoted human corneal endothelial cell growth during a 1- to 2-week incubation period. From the 37 cultures initiated, outgrowth from explants appeared within 3 to 7 days. Cells were polygonal in shape and, at confluency, formed a continuous monolayer. We attained a success rate of 87% (7/8) growing primary cultures from donors under 20 years of age and a 59% (17/29) success rate from older donors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Lions of Illinois Eye Research Institute, University of Illinois, Chicago 60612.
authors.forename: B Y
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sugar
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Gilboy
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Elvart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000494:pharmacology; D003470:Culture Media; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates