Methacrylated gelatin hydrogels as corneal stroma substitutes: in vivo study


Bektas C. K., Burcu A., Gedikoglu G., Telek H. H., Ornek F., Hasirci V. N.

JOURNAL OF BIOMATERIALS SCIENCE-POLYMER EDITION, cilt.30, sa.18, ss.1803-1821, 2019 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 30 Sayı: 18
  • Basım Tarihi: 2019
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/09205063.2019.1666236
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF BIOMATERIALS SCIENCE-POLYMER EDITION
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1803-1821
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Corneal stroma engineering, GelMA hydrogels, in vivo, New Zealand rabbits, MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES, VEGF, SCAFFOLDS, EYE, NEOVASCULARIZATION, TRANSPLANTATION, CONSTRUCTION, COMPOSITE, MEMBRANES, MEDICINE
  • Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) hydrogels were prepared to serve as corneal stroma equivalents. They were highly transparent (ca. 95% at 700 nm), mechanically strong and withstood handling and had high human corneal keratocyte viability (98%) after 21 days of culture period. In order to test the in vivo performance of the cell free GelMA hydrogels a pilot in vivo study was carried out using eyes of two white New Zealand rabbits. Hydrogel was implanted in a mid-stromal pocket created and without suture fixation, and observed for 8 weeks under a slit lamp. No edema, ulcer formation, inflammation or infection was observed in both the control (sham) and hydrogel implanted corneas. Corneal vascularization on week 3 was treated with one dose of anti-VEGF application. Hematoxylin and Eosin staining showed that the hydrogel was integrated with the host tissue with only a minimal foreign body reaction. Results demonstrated some degradation in the construct within 8 weeks as evidenced by the decrease of the diameter of the hydrogel from 4 mm to 2.6 mm. High transparency, adequate mechanical strength, biocompatibility and well integration with the host tissue, indicates that this hydrogel is a viable alternative to the current methods for the treatment of corneal blindness and deserves testing on larger number of rabbits and more extensively using microscopy, histology and immune histochemistry.