Primary Cells Extracted from Human Corneal Biopsies
Td_hLESCs were collected from scleral‐corneal tissue (obtained with written consent from next of kin according to the directives set by the Italian Centro Regionale Trapianti and Centro Nazionale Trapianti, and only when not suitable for transplantation) and preserved in media before processing. Biopsies, composed of cornea, limbus, and conjunctiva, were dissected into quarters, and then the cornea and conjunctiva were removed. The limbus was fragmented and soaked in PBS. Trypsin/EDTA (0.05%/0.01% w/v; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Italy) was added (10 mL) to digest the tissue for 30 min at 37 °C. The solution was centrifuged for 5 min at 1000 rpm and the pellet resuspended in fresh media. This cycle was repeated thrice to extract the majority of the cells. Cells were plated into a 24‐well plate (30 000 cells per well) in coculture with irradiated 3T3‐J2 cells. Culture medium consisted of Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) and Ham’s F12 (DMEM/F12, 2:1, Thermo Fisher Scientific) supplemented with 10% v/v FBS (Thermo Fisher Scientific), 50 µg mL–1 penicillin‐streptomycin (P/S), 4 × 10−3 m glutamine (EuroClone, Italy), 5 µg mL–1 insulin (HUMULIN R, Lilly, Canada), 0.4 µg mL–1 hydrocortisone (Flebocortid Richter, Sanofi, Italy), 0.18 × 10−3 m adenine (adenine grade I, Pharma Waldhof GmbH, Germany), 8.1 µg mL–1 cholera toxin (Cholera Toxin QD, List Biological Laboratories, USA), 2 × 10−3 m triiodothyronine (Liotir, IBSA, Italy), and 10 ng mL–1 epidermal growth factor (GMP Cellgro, CellGenix GmbH, Germany).
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