A.S. DUBOVIKOV¹, A.V. BEZUSHKO¹, A.N. KULIKOV¹, S.V. CHURASHOV¹, V.F. CHERNYSH¹, M.B. BLINOVA², O.I. ALEKSANDROVA², A.A. SUETOV¹, I.O. GAVRILYUK¹

 ¹S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy, 6 Akademika Lebedeva Str., Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation, 194044

²Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Science, 4 Tikhoretskiy prospect, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation, 194064

 Dubovikov A.S. — сlinical resident, e-mail: dubovikovanatolyi@gmail.com

Bezushko A.V. — ophthalmologist, e-mail: konkievaav@yandex.ru

Kulikov A.N. — D. Med. Sc., Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, e-mail: alexey.kulikov@mail.ru

Churashov S.V. — D. Med. Sc., Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology, e-mail: churashoff@mail.ru

Chernysh V.F. — Cand. Med. Sc., Associate Professor of the Ophthalmology Department, e-mail: vfchernysh@gmail.com

Blinova M.I. — Cand. Biol. Sc., Leading Researcher of the Laboratory of cell biology in culture, e-mail: mira.blinova@mail.ru

Aleksandrova O.I. — Junior Researcher of the Laboratory of cell biology in culture, e-mail: elga.aleks@gmail.com

Suetov A.A. — Cand. Med. Sc., ophthalmologist, e-mail: ophtalm@mail.ru

Gavrilyuk I.O. — ophthalmologist, e-mail: iluaayaks@gmail.com

One of the main causes of vascularized corneal leukoma formation is limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD). Successful visual rehabilitation of such patients using optical keratoplasty is possible only after the corneal epithelial phenotype is restored. This condition can be achieved through limbal epithelial stem cells transplantation (limbal transplantation — LT) from the healthy eye. Currently, one of the most promising technologies for such operation, which allows to avoid the risk of iatrogenic LSCD development on the donor eye, is the transplantation of limbal epithelial stem cells (LESC) cultured on the amniotic membrane (AM). The aim of the research was to investigate the possibility of using LESC cultured on the amniotic membrane for LSCD treatment in the experiment. The research was carried out on the previously created mechanical LSCD model on the eyes of 20 rabbits. The rabbits were divided in two groups (20 eyes in each). In the main group, after surface keratectomy, AM with LESC (from size-limited autologous limbal biopsy samples) was transplanted onto the cornea, and in the control group AM was transplanted without LESC. In the outcome, the cornea was completely epithelialized, transparent and almost avascular in the main group. In the control group, we observed a total fibrovascular pannus with a stromal opacification. The proposed technique of cultured LESC on AM transplantation provides restoration of the normal corneal epithelial cover in the eyes with LSCD in the experiment.

Key words: limbal stem cell deficiency, limbal epithelial stem cells, amniotic membrane.

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