Purpose: To compare the clinical and histological outcomes after intrastromal corneal ring segment (ICRS) implantation with and without plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF) in an experimental animal model. Materials and Methods: First, the toxicity of PRGF was tested in hen’s keratocyte cultures. Then, an animal model with 18 hens was randomly divided into 2 groups. In the first group, one ICRS was implanted in each eye (ICRS group). In the second group, the ICRS was firstly immersed 30 min in PRGF-Endoret solution, then implanted and, finally, PRGF-Endoret was inoculated into the channel (PRGF-ICRS group). Animals of each group were also separated into 3 groups regarding the time they were sacrificed, and corneal tissue was fixed for histological analysis at 2, 7 and 30 days. Cell death was detected by terminal uridine nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay. Proliferation was labelled by 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation and myofibroblast differentiation by alpha-smooth muscle actin (αSMA) immunodetection. Clinical examination, analyzing epithelial wound closure, deposits and stromal haze, was carried out at the different study times. Results: No toxic effect was observed by PRGF in hen stromal cell cultures. Clinically, in PRGF-ICRS corneas at 7 days, there were more deposits with higher intensity than in ICRS group. Histologically, at day 2 there was less epithelial damage over the segment in the PRGF-ICRS group, corneal oedema around the segment disappeared earlier and, at day 7, there was also double the number of cells around the segment than in the ICRS group displaying different morphologies. The number of TUNEL-positive cells was statistically higher in the PRGF-ICRS group at 7 and 30 days, and the number of BrdU-positive cells was statistically higher at all analyzed times. However, there were no differences in the number of αSMA-positive cells at 30 days between both groups. Conclusions: The ICRS immersion in PRGF-Endoret prior and after to its corneal implantation, in an experimental animal model, enhances clinical deposits and histological cell turnover without increasing myofibroblast differentiation reducing stromal wound-healing time after surgery.
