In vitro hydration kinetics of recent post-mortem tissue versus pre-dried corneal stromal tissue.

Both recent post-mortem and pre-dried corneal tissue has been used for laboratory studies of stromal swelling, but it has yet to be defined whether the same hydration (H value, mg H2O/mg dry mass) is obtained after extended re-hydration. Fresh or pre-dried pieces (8x8 mm squares) of ovine stromas were immersed in 1% NaCl for 24 hr at 37 degrees C, with the wet mass assessed regularly. Pre-drying was achieved in air for 7 days (with sulphuric acid, CaSO4 or silica gel as desiccants), or in an oven for 24 hr at 60, 70 or 80 degrees C. Fresh stroma preparations (</=2 hr post-mortem) had initial H values of 3.1, which increased to 27.8 after 24 hr in saline. After pre-drying over sulphuric acid, CaSO4 or silica gel, the H values after 24 hr in saline were 19.1, 13.1 and 7.3 respectively (all statistically different from fresh tissue (P<0.01). Following oven drying at 60, 70, and 80 degrees C, final H values of 8.5, 6.6, and 5.0 were obtained after 24 hr in saline. Recent post-mortem material showed sustained swelling over at least 24 hr. For pre-dried tissue, initial rates of hydration change over 1 hr were higher, but subsequent rates were substantially less after 2 hr. These studies indicate that fresh tissue should be used in studies concerning the swelling properties of the corneal stroma.