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A report in the latest issue of Science reports that Canadian researchers were able to get human corneal cells growing on an artificial protein surface for the first time. The resulting organism was structurally similar to the human cornea and from initial tests appears to function much like a human cornea.
This is a major advance for two reasons. First, today the only place to get a new cornea is through a transplant. Growing artificial corneas in the lab could be a huge boon in treating vision problems -- although any such use would be years off. Second, because the artificial corneas appear to react exactly as normal human corneas, they could be used as a substitute for animals in testing the effect of substances on the eyes.
Alan Goldberg, director of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, told WebMD that he was encouraged by the possibility of the artificial lenses to replace animal tests, although he cautioned it will still take quite a bit of research in the near future to establish for certain that tests on the artificial corneas produce results that are adequate enough to replace animal testing. "I'm super-encouraged," he said, "but I'm also saying it's not there yet."
Source:
"Laboratory-grown corneas may benefit research", WebMD, December 9, 1999.