Fig. 2.

Wnt-5a improves wound healing and limbal stem cell phenotype in diabetic but not in non-diabetic LEC. (a) Scratch wound healing dynamics in non-diabetic (n=3) cultured LEC was similar with or without Wnt-5a (200 ng/ml). (b, c) Transfection of non-diabetic LEC with WNT5A siRNA showed decreased expression of Wnt-5a (n=3) (b) and significantly impaired wound healing (n=4) (c). (d–h) Addition of Wnt-5a (200 ng/ml) to diabetic LEC (n=4) significantly enhanced wound healing (d) and markedly increased immunostaining of stem cell markers K15 (e, f) and K17 (g, h) (n=3). Values are mean ± SEM. *p<0.05, **p<0.01 and ***p<0.001 vs control at the same time point. Paired t test. The blot cut-outs for Wnt-5a and β-actin are from the same gel in (b). DM, diabetic. Scale bar, 20 µm