Chondroitin sulfate in Corneal Preaervation Media Assessed by monitoring the Transendothelial Electrical Potential Difference

ABSTRACT

Recently a great deal of attention has been focused on increasing corneal preservation time, and chondroitin sulfate in corneal preservation media can prolong corneal preservation time. So far evaluation of the effectiveness of this and some additives have been based on determining the state of the cornea at the end of the preservation period. We have accomplished this by monitoring in vitro the transendothelial electrical potential difference across deepithelialized rabbit cornea. We found that corneas stored in basal salt plus glucose containing chondroitin sulfate maintained higher transendothelial potential difference than corneas stored in the same solutions without chondroitin sulfate. The beneficial effects of chondroitin sulfate were opthimal at the 1% concentration.