The cornea is an avascular, transparent ocular tissue that serves as a refractive and protective structure for the eye. Over 90% of the cornea is composed of a collagenous-rich extracellular matrix within the stroma with the other 10% composed by the corneal epithelium and endothelium layers and their corresponding supporting collagen layers (e.g., Bowman's and Descemet's membranes) at the anterior and posterior cornea, respectively. Due to its prominent role in corneal structure, tissue engineering approaches to model the human cornea in vitro have focused heavily on the cellular and functional properties of the corneal stroma. In this review, we discuss model development in the context of culture dimensionality (e.g., 2-dimensional versus 3-dimensional) and expand on the optical, biomechanical, and cellular functions promoted by the culture microenvironment. We describe current methods to model the human cornea with focus on organotypic approaches, compressed collagen, bioprinting, and self-assembled stromal models. We also expand on co-culture applications with the inclusion of relevant corneal cell types, such as epithelial, stromal keratocyte or fibroblast, endothelial, and neuronal cells. Further advancements in corneal tissue model development will markedly improve our current understanding of corneal wound healing and regeneration.

角膜是一种无血管的透明眼组织，充当眼睛的屈光和保护结构。超过 90% 的角膜由基质内富含胶原蛋白的细胞外基质组成，另外 10% 由角膜上皮和内皮层及其相应的前部和后部支撑胶原层（例如鲍曼膜和后弹力层）组成分别为角膜。由于其在角膜结构中的突出作用，体外模拟人类角膜的组织工程方法主要关注角膜基质的细胞和功能特性。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了培养维度（例如，二维与三​​维）背景下的模型开发，并扩展了培养微环境促进的光学、生物力学和细胞功能。我们描述了目前人类角膜建模的方法，重点是器官型方法、压缩胶原蛋白、生物打印和自组装基质模型。我们还扩展了共培养应用，包括相关角膜细胞类型，例如上皮细胞、基质角膜细胞或成纤维细胞、内皮细胞和神经元细胞。角膜组织模型开发的进一步进步将显着提高我们目前对角膜伤口愈合和再生的理解。