Our goal is to examine the synthesis and deposition of corneal glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in response to a wound created by the insertion of porous discs into stromal interlamellar pockets. The disc and the surrounding stromal tissue were assayed and compared to contralateral control stroma and to sham operated corneas at 14, 42, and 84 days. The tissue and/or discs were removed and labeled with 35S-sulfate for 18 h; GAGs were extracted with 4 M guanidine-HCl. Extracts were chromatographed on Q-Sepharose columns, bound proteoglycans were eluted with a linear salt gradient, and radioactive fractions were analyzed. Total GAG content was determined colorimetrically, using dimethylmethylene blue. Specific GAGs were determined using enzymatic digestion with selective polysaccharide lyases and protein cores were examined using SDS-PAGE. The nonbound fractions from the chromatography were assayed for TGF-beta using Western blot analysis and for hyaluronic acid using an 125I-radiometric assay. Specific GAGs were localized 42 days after the disc had been implanted in the stroma. The placement of the discs into the stroma resulted in a decrease in the total amount of GAG. However, the ratio of dermatan-chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate to keratan sulfate increased in the surrounding tissue and disc. Hyaluronic acid was elevated at day 14 in the surrounding tissue, and not until day 84 in the disc. Western blot analysis of surrounding tissue extracts revealed forms of TGF-beta that migrated with an apparent molecular mass of 63 and 43 kDa. The results indicate that the insertion of discs into interlamellar pockets causes changes in the sulfation and proportion of the glycosaminoglycans in the surrounding tissue and the disc. These changes are coincident with the appearance of TGF-beta. After 84 days, the population of glycosaminoglycans in the disc begins to resemble the surrounding stroma. This model will allow us to examine further the synthesis and deposition of proteins following an extensive wound in which cells must migrate to the wound site and then undergo extensive remodeling.