Development and assessment of a novel ex vivo corneal culture technique involving an agarose-based dome scaffold for use as a model of in vivo corneal wound healing in dogs and rabbits.

Objective: To develop and assess a novel ex vivo corneal culture technique involving an agarose-based dome scaffold (ABDS) for use as a model of in vivo corneal wound healing in dogs and rabbits.

Sample: Corneas from clinically normal dogs (paired corneas from 8 dogs and 8 single corneas) and rabbits (21 single corneas).

Procedures: 8 single dog corneas (DCs), 1 DC from each pair, and 10 rabbit corneas (RCs) were wounded with an excimer laser; 1 DC from each pair and 11 RCs remained unwounded.

Corneal sensitivity in healthy bovine calves.

Objective: To evaluate corneal sensitivity as measured by the corneal touch threshold in healthy bovine calves.

Animals Studied: Twelve clinically normal male calves with predominantly Holstein genetics and a median age of 76.5 days (range, 67-92 days).