Corneal epithelial cultures generated from organ-cultured limbal tissue: factors influencing epithelial cell growth.

Purpose: To explore the in vitro proliferative potential of human limbal epithelial cells after 31 degrees C organ-culture storage and to investigate putative factors influencing it.

Methods: 185 cultures of limbal explants were carried-out either from full-thickness explants (n = 102) or from enzymatically dissociated cells (n = 83) seeded on a feeder layer of human keratocytes. Epithelial outgrowth was assessed by phase contrast microscopy using a computerized image analysis software.