Corneal Epithelium in Ocular Pharmacology

Abstract

AbstractPurpose Corneal epithelium is the main barrier of ocular drug absorption form the tear fluid to the anterior chamber. The aim was to generate corneal epithelial cell culture model for drug permeability testing.Methods Human corneal epithelial cell line was used and cultured on filters to build the model. The model was characterised in terms of permeability, electrical resistance, intercellular space, and gene expression of drug transporters and 11,000 other genes. Human corneal epithelium and rabbit cornea were used as positive controls.Results The results indicate that the corneal epithelial model has similar morphology and permeability characteristics and intercellular space as the normal corneal epithelium. However, significant differences were seen in the gene expression patterns.Conclusion Even though tight corneal epithelial organotypic culture model can achieve some features of the corneal epithelium, it deviates from the in vivo counterpart substantially. Thus the model has only limited utility.