Previously we have found that the immobilization of Type I collagen on the
poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) hydrogel disc was effective in supporting adhesion and growth of the
corneal epithelium and stromal cell in vitro. But the durability of the produced corneal epithelium
layer in vivo has some problem. We hypothesized the cell construction force is much stronger than
the force of the cell adhesion on the flat modified PVA surfaces. Therefore the improvement of
mechanical anchoring force between the substrate and formed corneal cell layer maybe become one
of the solving methods. In this study, we prepared the PVA nanofiber mat by using the
electrospinning method and the surface modification of the PVA nanofiber was studied to improve
the durability of the corneal epithelium layer. The collagen-immobilized PVA nanofiber sheets
could support the adhesion and proliferation of rabbit corneal epithelial cells. And the stratified
corneal epithelium structure was observed on the PVA nanofiber sheets when the epithelium was
co-cultured with rabbit corneal stromal cells. It means that the corneal epithelium was well
differentiated on the collagen immobilized PVA nanofiber sheet. The stability of the corneal
epithelium layer on the PVA was dramatically improved; the stratified epithelium layer was kept for
two weeks after the differentiation introduction, totally after one month. A light transmittance of
these materials is not yet enough. Further study to improve the transmission of light, is required.
Novel interpenetrating network microspheres of xanthan gum–poly(vinyl alcohol) for the delivery of diclofenac sodium to the intestine—in vitro and in vivo evaluation
