Establishment of animal model of regional corneal endothelial cells damaging

Objective To establish reproducible rabbit model of regional corneal endothelial cells (CECs) damaging. Methods The border line on the corneal epithelium was marked according to the simulated image of damaged area made by computer. The incision was made on the corneal limbus of rabbit eye, then a self-made scraper was inserted into the anterior chamber. During scraping, Ringer’s solution with low molecular heparin was perfused into the anterior chamber persistently, to ensure the stability of anterior chamber, clean the scraped CECs and avoid iris adhesion caused by the fibrous exudation. Results The designed CECs cross damaging models were completed successfully in all 7 rabbit eyes. From making corneal incision to the model made, the time was (11.82 ±1.07) minutes on average. Trypan blue staining results showed that the scraped region of CECs was basically consistent with the preoperative corneal epithelium marker, with a consisitent index of (94.71±2.17) % on average. The Descemet’s membrane of all eyes was intact. There was no termination during operation due to fibrous exudation, and no len or iris damage occurred. Conclusion The article proposed an effective, controllable and convenient method for establishing an animal model of regional CECs damage, which has good repeatability. Key words: Endothelial cells, cornea; Animal model, rabbit; Descemet’s membrane, cornea