The artificial cornea was printed using a 3D printer
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Scientists representing the British University of Newcastle, could reproduce a human cornea with a 3D printer - a transparent cornea.
The cornea is the front more convex transparent element of the eyeball, which is one of the mediums of the eye that refract light. Normally, this element is transparent, shiny, smooth, has the shape of a sphere and has a high sensitivity. The cornea consists of five layers.
Traumatic injuries, infectious lesions and congenital corneal pathologies can disrupt visual function, up to complete loss of vision. This complication could be avoided if there was a possibility of transplanting the donor cornea. But there are very few transplant materials, so there is no way to help all patients. According to information provided by the World Health Organization, about five million people in the world have lost their vision function due to diseases and corneal damage.
The newest method, presented by British researchers, is not yet suitable for use in clinical practice. However, in the future, after its improvement, millions of patients will be able to save and even restore lost vision.
Specialists admitted that in order to select the optimal composition of the biological dye for 3D printing, it was very problematic. Artificially recreated cornea should keep a structured shape, so it must be both thin and elastic. To achieve the necessary parameters, a group of scientists resorted to using a jelly-like polymer of alginate, a collagen protein substance and stem cells.
This technology does not fully ensure the reconstruction of the required number of donor corneas. They serve as the main material for obtaining the necessary stem cells. However, with the help of a new method, from one cornea it will be possible to obtain fifty artificially created ones.
After receiving one of the volunteers' eyeballs, the specialists reconstructed the three-dimensional corneal model. The resulting material has the form of an elastic contact lens, covered with a mucus.
Until the time when artificially created corneas will implant patients, it will be a long time. The group of scientific specialists should first of all improve the printing process, and further laboratory tests involving animals will be conducted. However, it is already possible to speak boldly about a breakthrough in this ophthalmologic direction, because researchers previously could not recreate a 3D structure close to the real cornea both in configuration and composition by means of 3D printing.
The new technique is described in detail in the scientific publication Experimental Eye Research (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014483518302124).