Figure 1.

Rejected corneas are infiltrated by both blood and lymphatic vessels. (A) Representative photographs of accepted (left) and rejected (right) corneas at 3 weeks after transplantation demonstrating extensive neovessel formation. (B) Immunostaining of flat mounts of accepted and rejected corneas at 3 weeks after transplantation demonstrates distinct increase in hemangiogenesis (CD31^high/LYVE-1^low) and lymphangiogenesis (CD31^low/LYVE-1^high). White dotted circles define the borders of the grafted cornea. (C) mRNA levels of VEGF receptors and ligands and LYVE-1 are determined in normal, accepted, and rejected corneas, at week 3 post-transplant, by qRT-PCR. VEGF ligands (VEGF-A and -C), receptors (VEGFR-1 and R-3), and the lymphatic marker (LYVE-1) expression levels are markedly increased in rejected compared with accepted corneas. Data are expressed as the fold-change compared with normal nontransplanted corneas (defines as =1). Graphs represent mean ± SEM of five samples per group (*P < 0.05 vs. accepted group).