Cell Therapy of Congenital Corneal Diseases with Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Lumican Null Mice
Figure 5
The apoptosis of transplanted UMSCs and UHSCs in the recipient Lum-/- corneal stroma.
A. Two weeks after transplantation, the number of UHSCs and UMSCs decreased; afterwards, UHSCs continuously diminished and almost disappeared from the cornea after 5 weeks; however, UMSC numbers maintained at a relative constant level and more than half of UMSCs survived in the corneal stroma up to 12 weeks (n≥6 in each time point). B and C. TUNEL assay revealed that a large number of UMSCs was labeled (green) in 48 hours after transplantation, thereafter, very few apoptotic UMSCs could be detected after one week. In contrast very few apoptotic cells were seen in the UHSCs within the first 48 hours after the transplantation and the number of apoptotic UHSCs increased after 1 week and maintained at high levels thereafter (n≥4 in each time point). Scale bars: 50 µm; Blue: DAPI.