The global shortage of donor corneas for transplantation has led to corneal bioengineering being investigated as a method to generate transplantable tissues. Decellularized corneas are among the most promising materials for engineering corneal tissue since they replicate the complex structure and composition of real corneas. Decellularization is a process that aims to remove cells from organs or tissues resulting in a cell-free scaffold consisting of the tissues extracellular matrix. Here different decellularization techniques are described, including physical, chemical and biological methods. Analytical techniques to confirm decellularization efficiency are also discussed. Different cell sources for the recellularization of the three layers of the cornea, recellularization methods used in the literature and techniques used to assess the outcome of the implantation of such scaffolds are examined. Studies involving the application of decellularized corneas in animal models and human clinical studies are discussed. Finally, challenges for this technology are explored involving scalability, automatization and regulatory affairs.

中文翻译：

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角膜的去细胞化和再细胞化：供体替代品的进展

用于移植的供体角膜的全球短缺导致角膜生物工程被研究作为一种产生可移植组织的方法。去细胞角膜是最有前途的角膜组织工程材料之一，因为它们复制了真实角膜的复杂结构和组成。去细胞化是一种旨在从器官或组织中去除细胞的过程，从而产生由组织细胞外基质组成的无细胞支架。这里描述了不同的脱细胞技术，包​​括物理、化学和生物方法。还讨论了确认脱细胞效率的分析技术。角膜三层再细胞化的不同细胞来源，检查了文献中使用的再细胞化方法和用于评估此类支架植入结果的技术。讨论了涉及脱细胞角膜在动物模型和人类临床研究中的应用的研究。最后，探讨了这项技术面临的挑战，涉及可扩展性、自动化和监管事务。