Corneal stromal fibroblasts from adult rabbits retain the capacity to deposit an orthogonal matrix.
Stromal fibroblasts from the adult rabbit cornea were propagated in vitro, then injected into the vitreous compartment of normal rabbit eyes. In this environment the stromal cells deposited a matrix of imperfect orthogonal collagenous lamellae resembling normal corneal stroma. Extracellular matrices were also secreted by other ocular and nonocular cell types intravitreally, but no orthogonal regions were observed. The vitreous appears to provide some of the physical and humoral factors required to permit adult corneal fibroblasts to secrete a stroma-like matrix in the absence of embryonic tissue influences.
D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000166:cytology*; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D011817:Rabbits; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000166:cytology