Potential Effect of Human Platelet Lysate on in vitro Expansion of Human Corneal Endothelial Cells Compared with Y-27632 ROCK Inhibitor

Purpose: corneal endothelial cell (cec) therapy can be used as a promising therapeutic option for patients with various corneal endothelial dysfunctions. in this study, we compared the proliferative effect of human platelet lysate (hpl), as a xeno-free medium supplement, with y-27632 rho/rho-associated protein kinase (rock) inhibitor, as a wellknown proliferative and adhesive agent for cecs, and fetal bovine serum (fbs) as the control, in the culture medium of human corneal endothelial cells (hcecs). methods: we isolated hcecs from human donors and treated the cells as three different treatment groups including 20% hpl only, 10 μm y-27632 rock inhibitor, combination of 20% hpl and 10 μm y-27632 rock inhibitor, and 20% fbs as the control group. elisa cell proliferation assay and cell counting was performed on the treated cells. finally, hcecs were characterized by morphology and immunocytochemistry (icc). results: there was no significant proliferative effect of hpl on cell proliferation compared with the cells treated with y-27632 rock inhibitor or the combination of hpl and y-27632 rock inhibitor, but all the respected treatments had significant inducible effect on cell proliferation as compared with fbs-treated cells. the cells grown in all three treatment groups exhibited cec morphology. also, there was a higher expression of na+/k+-atpase and zo-1, as cec characteristic markers, in the culture of hcecs treated with hpl as compared with fbs. conclusion: hpl offers a xeno−free and affordable medium supplement for cec expansion that can be used in clinical applications.