Fig. 6

Transplantation of iCEC products improves corneal functional recovery after corneal endothelial dysfunction. a b Immunohistochemistry staining showing that the injected iCEC products survived and coexpressed a human-specific marker (STEM 121), corneal endothelial cell marker (ZO-1) and red membrane fluorescence probe (DiI) in the graft-surviving group a, while these markers were not expressed in the graft-absence group b. Nuclei were stained with DAPI. Scale bar: 50 μm. c Representative images of hematoxylin and eosin staining showing that the injected iCEC products were adherent to Descemet’s membrane. The corneal thickness was thinner in the graft-surviving group than in the graft-absence and vehicle groups. Scale bars: 100 μm. d The anterior segment images of rabbits showing that corneal transparency was improved with iCEC products injection, while corneal edema was maintained without iCEC products injection from day 1 to day 28 after surgery. e Slit-lamp microscopic images (i) showing that corneal clarity was improved after iCEC products transplantation, while corneal opacity was maintained in the vehicle group. confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy images (ii) showing that the number and morphology of corneal endothelial cells were recovered in the graft-surviving group, while there were no cells observed in the vehicle group. Visante OCT images (iii) showing that corneal thickness was decreased in the graft-surviving group, while there was no change in the vehicle group. f Changes in corneal thickness in the graft-surviving and vehicle groups at different time points after surgery. n = 6, ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.001