Patent ID: 7049139

Claim:
A method for producing conjunctival tissue equivalents comprising: i) culturing cells of a tissue comprising conjunctival stem cells in a medium I comprising a) Dulbecco's Modified Essential Medium and Ham's F-12 medium in a ratio of 1:1; b) Fetal Bovine Serum or Human Serum Albumin; c) human Epidermal Growth Factor d) insulin; e) cholera toxin; f) hydrocortisone; g) an antibiotic or mixture of antibiotics; ii) further culturing the cells in a medium II comprising: a) Keratinocyte Growth Medium; b) human Epidermal Growth Factor; c) insulin; d) hydrocortisone; e) pituitary extract; f) an antibiotic or mixture of antibiotics; and iii) further culturing the cells to obtain conjunctival tissue equivalents in a medium III comprising: a) Dulbecco's Modified Essential Medium and Ham's F-12 medium in a ratio of 3:1; b) Fetal Bovine Serum or Human Serum Albumin; c) human Epidermal Growth Factor d) insulin; e) cholera toxin; f) hydrocortisone; g) an antibiotic or mixture of antibiotics; thereby obtaining a conjunctival tissue equivalent.