The anterior capsulorhexis has got several intra and postoperative advantages over can opener or endocapsular capsulotomies and has become the standard capsulotomy technique for phacoemulsification (Zamini et al 2003, Neuhan TF 2004, Gimbel et al 1990). Anterior capsulorhexis can be performed using 26 G bent needle cystitome or Utratas forceps (Zamini et al 2003, Neuhan TF 2004). The needle cap...

purpose: to describe a novel surgical technique for in vivo limbal stem cell cultivation for reconstruction of corneal epithelium in total limbal stem cell deficiency (lscd). methods: patients suffering from chronic total unilateral lscd due to a chemical injury were sequentially included. one small limbal block (2x1 mm) harvested from contralateral healthy eye sutured over the amniotic membran...

BACKGROUND In case of keratoconus, rigid gas-permeable contact lenses as the correction method of first choice allow for a good visual acuity for quite some time. In a severe stage of the disease with major cone-shaped protrusion of the cornea, even specially designed keratoconus contact lenses are no more tolerated. In case of existing contraindications for intrastromal ring segments, corneal ...

(2) The angle made by the blade with the surface of the globe, i.e., the degree of obliquity of the incision. From the same external site an incision perpendicular to the scleral surface may penetrate the ciliary body, whereas a slanting incision parallel to the iris surface would enter the anterior chamber (Swan, 1959). Much controversy still exists concerning some of the external landmarks of...

PURPOSE To study the kinetics of growth and the phenotype of cells cultured from human limbal explants in a cholera toxin-free medium with no feeder cell layer. METHODS Human organ-cultured corneas were used to prepare limbal explants (full-thickness and superficial limbal explants) and corneal stromal explants. Cell growth kinetics and phenotypes were assessed by cultivating explants in chol...

PURPOSE To determine if vitamin A could be one of the factors in serum responsible for the previously observed effect of 20% fetal bovine serum on stimulating clonal growth of an additional subpopulation in limbal cultures, possibly stem cells, but inhibiting that of transient amplifying cells in peripheral corneal cultures. METHODS A reported serum-free clonal growth assay was used. The mito...

Although the existence of the limbal stem cell (LSC) niche is accepted, precise knowledge of its three-dimensional (3D) architecture remains incomplete. The LSC niche was explored on freshly excised and organ-cultured corneoscleral rims from human donors (n = 47), pigs (n = 15) and mice (n = 27) with full-field optical coherence microscopy (FFOCM). Limbal crypt features were detected in 90% of ...

PURPOSE Transplantation of ex vivo expanded limbal epithelial progenitor cells (LEPCs) on epithelially denuded amniotic membrane (dAM) in supplemented hormonal epithelial medium (SHEM) is an alternative solution for treating corneal blindness due to limbal stem cell (SC) deficiency. Because the phenotype of limbal niche cells (NCs) is preserved better in serum-free modified embryonic stem cell ...

Autophagy and macropinocytosis are processes that are vital for cellular homeostasis, and help cells respond to stress and take up large amounts of material, respectively. The limbal and corneal epithelia have the machinery necessary to carry out both processes; however, autophagy and macropinocytosis are relatively understudied in these two epithelia. In this Perspectives, we describe the basi...

PURPOSE To characterize human limbal epithelial cells based on the expression levels of nuclear protein p63 and the nucleus-to-cytoplasm (N/C) ratio. METHODS Limbal, peripheral, and central corneal epithelia were separated from the stroma by Dispase II and subsequently were treated with trypsin to obtain single-cell suspensions. Cytospin smears of the cell suspensions were double immunostaine...