A new in vitro model for evaluating endothelial wound healing has been developed. Rabbit and bovine corneal endothelial cells were cultured on coverslips in areas 8mm in diameter with hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and monolayer sheets were obtained. Wounds were produced by scraping cells in the center of the cell sheets with a rotating silicone tip. The areas of these wounds were measured with computed planimetry. The average wound area was 3.00 +/- 0.21 mm2 in rabbit cell cultures 3.18 +/- 0.28 mm2 in bovine cell cultures. The healing process after making the wound was observed by inverse phase contrast microscope and wound healing rates were calculated. Wounded areas were covered by 60 hours in rabbit cultures, and by 84 hours in bovine cultures respectively. Wound healing rates during 6-12 and 12-24 hours were 92.5 +/- 11.9 microns 2/h, 62.4 +/- 3.4 microns 2/h in rabbits and 10.6 +/- 3.6 microns 2/h, 62.9 +/- 7.8 microns 2/h in bovine material respectively. The healing rates were higher in rabbit cultures than in bovine cultures. This model can be used for quantitative evaluation of the wound healing process of corneal endothelium.