BACKGROUND CORNEAS NEEDED FOR KERATOPLASTY CAN BE HARVESTED USING TWO TECHNIQUES: whole globe enucleation and in situ excision of the corneoscleral disc. This study evaluates the rate of microbial contamination of the donor cornea organ culture medium according to the method of retrieval. METHODS All donor corneas of our cornea bank received between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2009 put i...

Thymic NK1.1+ cells are a recently described lymphocyte subset whose biologic function is not well defined. There is some controversy as to whether thymic NK1.1+ cells mature in a thymic or an extrathymic pathway. In this study, we examined the ontogeny of murine thymic NK1.1+ cells utilizing direct examination of freshly obtained fetal thymi as well as fetal thymi established in organ cultures...

Investigating organogenesis in utero is a technically challenging process in placental mammals due to inaccessibility of reagents to embryos that develop within the uterus. A newly developed ex vivo upright droplet culture method provides an attractive alternative to studies performed in utero. The ex vivo droplet culture provides the ability to examine and manipulate cellular interactions and ...

BACKGROUND Endothelium dysfunction is believed to play a role in the development of cardiovascular disease. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the suitability of organ culture as a model for endothelium dysfunction. METHODS The isometric tension was recorded in isolated segments of the rat mesenteric artery branch, before and after organ culture for 20 h. Vasodilatation was expresse...