Background: The successful integration of keratoprostheses (KPros) within the cornea depends in part on peripheral host keratocyte adhesion to anchor the implant in place and prevent epithelial downgrowth. The following study incorporated different acrylate co-monomers with poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (p(HEMA)) and measured the suitability of these materials as potential skirt materials in terms of their ability to enhance keratocyte adhesion to p(HEMA).
Methods: p(HEMA) hydrogels incorporating varying amounts of the acrylate co-monomers methacrylic acid (MA), 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DEM), or phenoxyethyl methacrylate (PEM) were formed by free radical polymerisation. Keratocytes were seeded onto discs of each material and incubated at 37 degrees C for 72 hours. Assays for viable cell adhesion were carried out. A viability/cytotoxicity assay using solutions of calcein-AM (0.5 mM) and ethidium homodimer-1 (EthD-1) (0.5 microM) were used to measure viable and non-viable cell adhesion, respectively. An ATP assay was also used to quantify cell adhesion in terms of the amount of ATP present following lysis of adherent cells.
Results: The viability/cytotoxicity assays indicated that the incorporation of 15 mol% of the co-monomer PEM or of 20 mol% DEM increased cell adhesion to p(HEMA) by at least four times. The ATP assays confirmed the results for PEM but absorption of ATP to the DEM containing hydrogel indicated that the assay was not a suitable measure of cell adhesion to this material.
Conclusions: The properties of p(HEMA) may be moderated to enhance keratocyte adhesion by the incorporation of PEM or DEM suggesting that these may be suitable materials for use in the further development of a novel KPro skirt material.