Figure 3.

Protection of rod photoreceptors by MANF. The right eyes of S334ter-3 rats were treated with 6 µg (in 3 µl of PBS) of MANF by intravitreal injection, and the left eyes were injected with of PBS. Tissues were collected at PD20. Semi-thin sections were cut and stained with toluidine blue. The ONL in the control eye had only one row of nuclei in the superior retina (between arrowheads, A), whereas in the eyes treated with MANF, there are three to four rows of nuclei in the ONL (between arrowheads, B). In comparison, the ONL in a normal wild-type rat at PD20 contains 13–14 rows of nuclei (C). Quantitative analysis shows that the ONL in the MANF-treated retinas (superior retina) is significantly thicker than that in the PBS-treated retinas (D, triple asterisks indicate p < 0.001, Student’s t test). OS, outer segments; IS, inner segments; OPL, outer plexiform layer. Scale bar: 25 µm.