Sex chromatin of donor corneal epithelium in rabbits.

The survival of donor corneal epithelium was investigated in rabbits after they received unilateral 8 mm diameter lamellar keratoplasties with living donor tissue of a different sex from the host. Three weeks, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks postoperatively, cultured corneal epithelia, grown from 5 mm diameter central buttons, the adjacent 0.75 mm wide donor rings, the peripheral 10 to 13 mm diameter rings, and 5 mm diameter central host buttons were used for sex-chromatin analysis. The results indicated that some of the donor corneal epithelium survived up to 12 weeks postoperatively. Even in the absence of overt epithelial rejection, however, a time-dependent decrease of donor corneal epithelium and simultaneous invasion of host corneal epithelium were demonstrated.