Table 2. Limbal tissue and cell outgrowth data.
| Donors | Number of explants that demonstrated cell outgrowth | Days of cultivation to confluence# | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lconj | Lm | Lcor | ||
| 1 | 3/3 | 3/3 | 0/3 | 14 |
| 2 | 0/3 | 3/3 | 1/3 | 11 |
| 3 | 3/3 | 2/3 | 1/3 | 10 |
| 4 | 3/3 | 2/3 | 1/3 | 7 |
| 5 | 1/4 | 3/4 | 2/4 | 11 |
| Total explant outgrowth | 10/16 | 13/16 | 5/16 | |
| Percent of success (95% CI) | 62.5% (38.6–81.5%) | 81.3%* (57–93.4%) | 31.3%* (14.2–55.6%) | |
Abbreviations: Lconj, limbus adjacent to the conjunctiva; Lm, middle limbus; and Lcor, limbus adjacent to the cornea.
A successful culture was defined as one in which the diameter of cell outgrowth was larger than 5 mm within 14 days
*p < 0.01 Lm vs. Lcor, by Chi-square test, 95% confidence interval (95% CI).
#The duration that the explants from each donor reach confluence monolayers. This parameter was similar in all expandable explants froms 3 limbal sites of the same donor but varied among different donors.