Fig. 5.

G8^pos cells are myofibroblast precursors. Wounded lens epithelia cultured for 6 d (A–C) were double-labeled for G8 antigen (red, A) and α-SMA (green, B) (overlain in C). Within colonies of G8^pos cells there was a progression from G8^pos cells to myofibroblasts: G8^pos cells expressing little to no α-SMA (white arrowhead), G8^pos cells expressing α-SMA not yet organized into stress fibers (arrow), G8^pos cells with α-SMA containing stress fibers (open arrowhead), and myofibroblasts that had lost the G8 antigen (dashed arrow). Explants also were grown under conditions that permitted G8^pos cells to migrate onto the rigid culture dish, promoting differentiation of G8 cells to myofibroblasts within 3 d (D–F), in the same progression noted above. (Scale bars: 20 μm.)