A Fully Human In Vitro Capsular Bag Model to Permit Intraocular Lens Evaluation

Abstract

PURPOSE.To establish a fully human in vitro culture model with which to test the putative effects of intraocular lens (IOL) designs in preventing posterior capsule opacification (PCO) after cataract surgery. METHODS. A sham cataract operation was performed to prepare human capsular bags from donor lenses. In one capsular bag of a donor pair, an intraocular lens (PMMA round-edge IOL or acrylic IOL) was implanted while the other capsular bag remained aphakic. Bags were transferred to a Petri dish and secured anterior-face down using entomological pins. Capsular bags were maintained in Eagle's minimum essential medium supplemented with 2% human serum and 10 ng/mL TGF-␤ to drive growth and matrix contraction. RESULTS. In the absence of an IOL, cells appeared within the central posterior capsule at 4.38 Ϯ 0.26 days, whereas in the presence of a PMMA round-edge IOL or an acrylic IOL they appeared at 8 Ϯ 0.41 days and 11 Ϯ 0.7 days, respectively. Immunocytochemical analysis showed an accumulation of cells at the edge of the acrylic IOL and a less evident accumulation with the PMMA round-edge IOL. Moreover, matrix contraction was more prominent in the absence of an IOL but was still apparent, to a lesser degree, in the presence of a PMMA round-edge IOL. The acrylic IOL greatly suppressed matrix contraction. CONCLUSIONS. The authors have developed a fully human in vitro capsular bag system that relates well to clinical observations and permits the testing of novel intraocular lenses. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53:23-29)

An In Vitro Evaluation of the Anew Zephyr Open-Bag IOL in the Prevention of Posterior Capsule Opacification Using a Human Capsular Bag Model

“…16 In these conditions, dramatic changes were seen, such that in preparations implanted with an Acrysof or Anew Zephyr IOL cells covered the entire AC and their morphology was fibroblastic in appearance (Fig. 6).…”

EGFR-Blockade With Erlotinib Reduces EGF and TGF-β2 Expression and the Actin-Cytoskeleton Which Influences Different Aspects of Cellular Migration in Lens Epithelial cells

“…Therefore, the human capsular bag model represents a valuable alternative. 38,84,85 Unfortunately, human donor capsular bags are relatively scarce and the very limited amount of cells does not allow most of the experiments conducted in this study. Therefore, we have deliberately chosen the HLE-B3 cells, a human lens epithelial cell line, for investigation of pharmacological PCO prophylaxis since this cell line represents a well-established cell culture model for investigation of PCO as described by others.…”

Experimental models for posterior capsule opacification research

“…The development of capsular bag models allowed for the introduction of an IOL (Cleary et al, 2010;Dawes et al, 2012;De Groot et al, 2005;Duncan et al, 1997;Eldred et al, 2014;Liu et al, 1996) and thus provide an alternative experimental system for IOL development and importantly permit IOLs to be tested in a human system. For example, the capsular bag model served as an invaluable tool in the development of the Bag-in-the-lens IOL developed by Prof. Tassignon (De Groot et al, 2005), which is now commercially available.…”

“…Pedagogic changes have been made to the model that have further improved its value in IOL development. Dawes et al (2012) adapted the Liu model by inverting the bag containing an IOL i.e. anterior capsule down.…”

“…The bag was again pinned to the dish, but using this method greater interaction between the optic edge and the capsule was observed, which reflects clinical findings. In addition, Dawes et al (2012), fully humanised this system using human serum and human recombinant TGFb2 to drive growth, EMT and matrix contraction. Efforts were also being made to establish a suspended capsular bag system, such that ElOsta et al (2003) initially secured the periphery of the capsular bag to a lens holder using medical grade glue and this permitted IOLs to be introduced.…”