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. 2014 May 27;22(8):1544–1555. doi: 10.1038/mt.2014.69

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Real-time RT-PCR analysis of the phenotype of transplanted oral mucosal epithelial cell (OEC) sheets. In rabbit nos. 1 and 2, cytokerain 6 (K6), an OEC marker, was detected, but neither of the corneal epithelial cell markers, cytokeratn 12 (K12) nor Pax6, were detected. In rabbit no. 3, K6, K12, and Pax6 were all detected, suggesting that the ocular surface was a heterogeneous mix of transplanted OEC sheets and corneal epithelial cells. Cytokeratin 14 (K14), a basal marker, and ΔNp63, a putative stem/progenitor marker, were detected during the 24-week follow-up period in all three rabbits. Vimentin, a mesenchymal marker, was detected in the transplanted OEC sheets, whereas cultivated OEC sheets and normal OECs only expressed these markers slightly. The red bars indicate the mRNA expression in rabbit no. 1; the green bars, rabbit no. 2; and the blue bars, rabbit no. 3; the yellow bars represent the control which was a normal cornea treated with 10 scrapings. Black bars indicate the mRNA expressions of oral mucosal, corneal, limbal, and conjunctival epithelial cells obtained from normal rabbit.