Abstract:

As the most active layer of cornea, corneal endothelium plays an essential role in maintaining corneal transparency. And the microenvironment of corneal endothelial cells is the key to reveal mechanisms of corneal endothelial diseases and culture corneal endothelium in vitro to reduce the donor burden of corneal endothelial transplantation. The corneal endothelial microenvironment includes many kinds of ubiquitous cytokines, such as growth factors, nutritional factors, inflammatory factors and stem factors, which have direct effects on cells. It is also confirmed that due to the specific location of corneal endothelium, the high oxidation environment, the intraocular pressure and other physical stresses and adjacent tissues, like lens, Descemet's membrane, aqueous humor and so on, also have important interactions with corneal endothelial cells in microenvironment.(Int Rev Ophthalmol,  2017,  41:    131-135)