Fig. 8.

NBC with AON suppressing miR-203a improves wound healing and limbal stem cell phenotype in diabetic corneal organ cultures via Wnt-5a. (a) Wound healing time in heptanol-wounded diabetic corneas treated with P/AON miR-203a was significantly reduced vs P/AON control (n=4). (b–f) Immunostaining of Wnt-5a (b), putative limbal stem cell makers K15 (c) and K17 (d), as well as diabetic markers integrin α3β1 (e) and nidogen-1 (f), in healed corneas (n=4) showed marked increase after NBC treatment. Values are mean ± SEM. *p<0.05 vs control (paired t test) Scale bar, 20 µm. AON, morpholino antisense oligonucleotide; P/AON, polymalic acid with covalently attached antisense oligonucleotide