Characterization of Ex Vivo Expanded Oral Mucosal Epithelium Cells on Acellular Porcine Corneal Stroma for Ocular Surface Reconstruction.

OMECs can be successfully cultured on APCS without using xenobiotic feeder cells and serum. Characterization showed that these sheets retain the morphologic and phenotypic characteristics of OMECs within differentiated cells and stem cells. The optimal transplantable sheets can prove to be particularly beneficial to both bilateral limbal stem cell deficiency and deep corneal lesions.