METHOD FOR GROWTH OF HUMAN CONJUNCTIVAL TISSUE EQUIVALENTS FOR RESEARCH, CLINICAL OCULAR SURFACE TRANSPLANTATION AND TISSUE ENGINEERING

摘要

The invention relates to materials and methods for producing equivalents of tissues of the ocular surface, especially conjunctival tissue equivalents. The method of the invention involves biopsy of an appropriate tissue, primary culture in a certain medium, proliferative culture in a second medium, and differentiative culture in a third medium. The tissue equivalents are typically grown upon a substrate, typically amniotic membrane, which provides ease of handling as one advantage.