Artificial cornea: cellular ingrowth and transparency of an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene

The development of a matrix with high cell adhesion and ingrowth rates is of importance for artificial cornea. The design of such artificial matrices requires understanding of cellular system colonization processes. After lamellar implementation the more impermeable the material, the larger the diameter and the more anterior placement, the more likely it is that the anterior stroma will starve and become necrotic. One approach to this problem is fenestration or open porosity of the material. Modifications in the thickness, pore size, and their geometric orientation of an expanded polytetrafluorethylene could modify the cellular ingrowth rate. Immunohistochemical study with the monoclonal antibodies AE5 showed normal epithelial differentiation over the polymer. The material in first white opaque became progressively transparent after colonization and demonstrated that an opaque hydrophobic material may become transparent and completely wettable with very low perturbation of the flow through the cornea.