Adherence of human lens epithelial cells to conventional poly(methyl methacrylate), heparin-surface-modified, and polyHema lenses.

We developed an in vitro model to assess the adherence of human lens epithelial cells to three types of intraocular lenses: poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), heparin-surface-modified PMMA (HSM-PMMA), and polyHema. Lenses were incubated with a fixed number of human lens epithelial cells. Adherent cells were counted after 72 hours in culture. Scanning electron microscopy showed significantly fewer cells adhering to the HSM-PMMA and polyHema lenses than to the PMMA lenses (P < .01). Repeat experiments on cell lines established from different donors confirmed these findings.