Renewal of the Rabbit Corneal Epithelium as Investigated by Autoradiography After Intravitreal Injection of 3H-thymidine

Abstract

It takes >14 days for a daughter cell to migrate from the basal stratum to the outermost layer of the epithelium. Labeled daughter cells were detected < or = 90 days in several layers of the corneal epithelium. Therefore it takes >2 weeks for the complete renewal of the epithelium. Our data suggest that the proliferative capability of the centrally located basal cells is enough to guarantee the renewal of the corneal epithelium under physiologic conditions.