Penetrating keratoplasty in rabbits; effects of beta-propiolactone (BPL) treatment of donor corneal discs.

The problem of a storage technique for corneal tissue which will not impair its suitability for keratoplasty has been well reviewed recently, 1-4 and so any detailed consideration may be omitted. Suffice it to say that techniques involving freezing or freezing followed by dehydration of corneal material pretreated with glycerine represent substantial progress. However, a completely satisfactory solution of the problem remains to be achieved. The chemical agent BPL (β-propiolactone) has been used successfully and apparently advantageously in the preparation for storage of arterial tissue to be used for arterial homografts. 5 A freshly prepared 1% solution of BPL is an effective virucide, bacteriocide, sporicide, and fungicide; however, after two hours at 38 C the initially toxic BPL has completely hydrolyzed into nontoxic degradation products. It has proved feasible to sterilize contaminated arterial homografts with BPL without destroying their usefulness as functional transplants. We deemed it worth while to investigate