Original Paper

Fetal Calf Serum Protects Cultured Porcine Corneal Endothelial Cells from Endotoxin-Mediated Cell Damage
Angela C. Sobottka Ventura^a, Katrin Engelmann^b, Matthias Böhnke<sup>a

a</sup>Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital Bern, Switzerland;
^bDepartment of Ophthalmology, Universitätsklinik Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

Address of Corresponding Author

Ophthalmic Res 1999;31:416-425 (DOI: 10.1159/000055566)

  Key Words

• Fetal calf serum
• Endotoxin
• Corneal endothelial cells
• Cell culture
• Cell damage

  Abstract

In corneal organ culture, a contamination of sterile culture media with endotoxin is frequently found. Thus, we investigated if the presence of endotoxin affects the viability of cultured porcine corneal endothelial cells. Endotoxin in high concentrations caused morphological cell changes in porcine corneal endothelial monolayer cultures, delayed proliferation and decreased cellular esterase activity of porcine corneal endothelial cells in vitro. The toxic effect of endotoxin was modulated by the fetal calf serum content of the medium, the concentration of endotoxin and the incubation time.

  Author Contacts

Dr. Angela C. Sobottka Ventura
Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital
University of Bern, CH-3010 Bern (Switzerland)
Tel. +41 31 6328538, Fax +41 31 3817066
E-Mail angela.sobottka,ventura@insel.ch

  Article Information

This work is part of a project (So 342/2-1) supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

Received: Received: February 4, 1997
Accepted after revision: January 8, 1999
Number of Print Pages : 10
Number of Figures : 4, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 24