In situ UNIversal Orthogonal Network (UNION) bioink deposition for direct delivery of corneal stromal stem cells to corneal wounds.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40083774.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2025.02.009 and PMC identifier 11903395.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The scarcity of human donor corneal graft tissue worldwide available for corneal transplantation necessitates the development of alternative therapeutic strategies for treating patients with corneal blindness. Corneal stromal stem cells (CSSCs) have the potential to address this global shortage by allowing a single donor cornea to treat multiple patients. To directly deliver CSSCs to corneal defects within an engineered biomatrix, we developed a UNIversal Orthogonal Network (UNION) collagen bioink that crosslinks <i>in situ</i> with a bioorthogonal, covalent chemistry. This cell-gel therapy is optically transparent, stable against contraction forces exerted by CSSCs, and permissive to the efficient growth of corneal epithelial cells. Furthermore, CSSCs remain viable within the UNION collagen gel precursor solution under standard storage and transportation conditions. This approach promoted corneal transparency and re-epithelialization in a rabbit anterior lamellar keratoplasty model, indicating that the UNION collagen bioink serves effectively as an <i>in situ</i>-forming, suture-free therapy for delivering CSSCs to corneal wounds.