Effects of human recombinant bFGF on endothelial wound healing in organoculture (+31 degrees C) of human corneas

Purpose The effects of human recombinant bFGF has been evaluated on 9 paired human donor corneas (age 75 +/- 8 years), preserved in organ culture medium. Material and methods The endothelium of corneas were mechanically 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 stockage of the bFGF on the basal membranes (low affinity receptor), while the ipsilateral cornea served as control. Endothelium was assessed by trypan staining at day 0, day 7, and day 14. At this term of fourteenth day, alizarine red and trypan blue staining permitted morphometric data. Results The bFGF factor increases significantly cell density in the wound area (p < 0.05), and in the transitional area (p < 0.01), compared to the control group. In the transitional area, cells depletion 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 wound 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 transitional area the mean cell size was 549 mu m(2), and 479 mu m(2) in the control and the bFGF treated group (p < 0.05) respectively. The bFGF group do not affect the shape factor. Conclusion This assay demonstrates that human bFGF greatly facilitates wound closure in endothelium of human cornea. The cellular migration from the transitional zone seems the dominant healing mechanism.