FIG. 7.

Corneal appearance and thickness after transplantation. (A) Two weeks after surgery. The corneas had obvious edema with increased corneal thickness. (B) Four months after surgery. The corneas in the UCB EPCs labeled with nanoparticles and magnet attraction transplantation group (the nano group) had minimal corneal opacity, and the pupil and iris vessels were easily visible. The corneas in the nanoparticle-labeled UCB EPCS without magnet transplantation group (the control group) and the endothelium–Descemet membrane stripping, but no injection of cells (the model group) had severe corneal opacity, only pupil margin visible. OCT scan showed that the corneal thickness in the nano group was lower than in the control and the model group and similar to the normal group. (C) The corneal thickness decreased from 2 weeks to 4 months postoperatively in the nano, control, and model groups (2w, 2 weeks; 2mo, 2 months; 4mo, 4 months). Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/scd