Fabrication of high-density collagen gel by RAFT system and culturing of corneal limbal epithelial cells

Article information
Optimization of optical and mechanical properties of Real Architecture for 3-Dimensional Tissue equivalents: Towards treatment of limbal epithelial stem cell deficiency.
Massie I, Kureshi AK, Schrader S, Shortt AJ, Daniels JT.
Acta Biomater. 2015 Sep 15;24:241-50. PMID: 26092352

Overview
However, when the corneal epithelial stem cells necessary for regeneration of the corneal epithelium are damaged or lost, the transparency of the cornea is impaired, eventually resulting in blindness.

At present, transplantation of corneal limbal epithelial cells is performed using amniotic membrane as a carrier, but amniotic membrane is heterogeneous, and there are drawbacks such as expensive screening costs before use.

The authors previously established a method for producing a high-density collagen gel using the RAFT system. In the present article, the same collagen gel was optimized for use as a transplantation carrier in place of amniotic membrane.

By adjustment of the collagen solution concentration and solution volume, the authors succeeded in producing a collagen gel with high transparency and strength, along with cell proliferative properties suitable for transplantation of corneal limbal epithelial cells.

Since the RAFT system can be adjusted to yield collagen gels with the desired properties, this system has potential not only for transplantation of corneal limbal epithelial cells but also for application to other tissues for regenerative medicine.

Cost-effective collagen for producing collagen gel for 3D culture and co-culture, and coating various cell cultureware

Product name
– Native Collagen Acidic Solution 3 mg/mL (Cat. No.: IAC-30)
– Native Collagen Acidic Solution 5 mg/mL (Cat. No.: IAC-50)