The increased use of ophthalmic medications leads to an increased demand for preclinical drug research. The disadvantages of the use of ex vivo corneal model for examining the permeability of active substance through corneal barrier are ensuring an adequate number of animal corneas and the immediate conduct of the experiment. Since epithelium is the main barrier to the transfer of active substances, and the standard storage of human corneas causes serious epithelial damage, that type of storage is not suitable for permeability tests on animal corneas. The aim of this thesis is to examine the primary and secondary protection of cornea cryopreserved in complex media as cryoprotective agents, by using different freezing and thawing protocols. Properly cryoprotected corneas can be used as a valuable tool for preclinical research in ophthalmology. The preservation and integrity of epithelial barrier were estimated by measuring the transepithelial electrical resistance. The results indicate damage and deterioration of the epithelial barrier during 48 hours of cryopreservation in two commercially available corneal storage media, CorneaMax® i CorneaJet®. The lowest primary protection has been proved by the application of the liquid nitrogen freezing protocol at -196°C, while higher values have been obtained by gradual freezing. CorneaJet® medium has shown better overall secondary protection as a cryoprotective agent compared to CorneaMax® medium.