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2013|14 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

91 Angela Rossi Phone +49 931 31-84237 angela.rossi@uni-wuerzburg.de Prof. Dr. Heike Walles Phone +49 931 31-88828 heike.walles@igb.fraunhofer.de Funding This project was financed by the program “Bayern Fit”. Project partner University Hospital of Würzburg Outlook Culturing the cornea near in vivo conditions with a special- ized bioreactor has been accomplished. Using the bioreactor, we can mimic the natural moistening blink of the eye and the natural supply of nutrients on the endothelial side of the eye, as well as the intraocular pressure on the epithelial side of the cornea. Our cornea organ model-test system allows the testing of sub- stances making experiments on living animals unneeded while performing with an equivalent or even significantly stronger power. Because the metabolism of the corneas remains active during long-term culture, the healing of the damaged tissue can take place, making it possible to test the damage caused by different concentrations of certain substances. Moreover, drug counter-measures can be monitored simultaneously. 1 Cornea EtOH: Treated with ethanol and then stained with fluorescein cornea. 2 Cornea NaOH: Treated with sodium hydroxide solution and then with fluorescein stained cornea. 3 Cornea PBS: Negative control. Treated with isotonic saline and then with fluorescein stained cornea. 4 Histology EtOH: Histological cross-section of an ethanol-treated cornea. 5 Histology NaOH: Histological cross-section of a cornea treated with caustic soda. 6 Histology PBS: Histological cross-section of a cornea treated with isotonic saline. 4 5 6 100 μm 100 μm 100 μm Contacts

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