IN VITRO MODULATION OF HUMAN CORNEAL ENDOTHELIAL CELL BEHAVIOR VIA TOPOGRAPHICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL CUES

Abstract

Human corneal endothelium plays important roles in maintaining corneal transparency. However, corneal endothelial cells do not proliferate in vivo, resulting in decreased cell density over time. While the endothelium normally can sustain its function for a lifetime, trauma and diseases can result in excessive cell loss with consequences of reduced visual acuity and blindness. Donor cornea shortage motivates development of tissue-engineered cornea. To induce favorable cellular behavior, efforts are directed to produce scaffolds that recapitulate native cell environment. We hypothesize that topographical cue can differently regulate and improve human corneal endothelial cell (HCEC) morphometry and phenotype when different biochemical cues are used. The topographies that we test are nanopillars, microwells, and micropillars. The biochemical cues are extracellular matrix coating of fibronectin-collagen I, FNC Coating Mix, and laminin-chondroitin sulfate. Our results indicate that topographical and biochemical cues are able to alter HCEC behavior. Engineered environment may thus enable cellular behavior fine-tuning.