Evaluation of Teflon-coated intraocular lenses in an organ culture method

Abstract

An amorphous and transparent form of Teflon is proposed as a coating of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) intraocular lenses (IOLs), rendering them highly hydrophobic. We used an organ culture method to evaluate cell adhesion, proliferation, and migration on Teflon-coated IOLs. Corneal explants from 14-day-old chicken embryos were placed on a semisolid culture medium and covered with uncoated PMMA (n = 36) and Teflon-coated PMMA (n = 36) IOLs and two controls, Thermanox (n = 84) and latex (n = 36). After incubation (7 days at 37°C), a digital imaging system was used to measure the areas of the cell migration layers on the materials. The cells were then removed with tripsin-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and the cells detached at times up to 75 min were counted (Coulter® Multisizer System). The values were used to construct a cell disconnecting curve for each material. The areas of cell migration layers on uncoated and Teflon-coated IOLs were significantly different (p < .05). Cell disconnecting curves demonstrated that cells adhered less strongly to Teflon-coated IOLs than to the other materials. This organ culture method demonstrated that the coating of PMMA IOLs with Teflon AF® is correlated with antiadhesive and antiproliferative properties. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 46, 347–354, 1999.