Fig. 6.

RGC axons 240 days after crush. A, B Photomontage of confocal images of the optic nerve of vehicle- (A) or rMSC-injected (B) animals. In the vehicle-injected animal whose nerve is shown in (A), only a few CTB-555⁺ axons (white) were seen in the proximal part of the nerve (arrows in A′), with rare axons extending shorter distances (arrow in A″). No axons were found in the distal portion of the nerve (A′′′). In the rMSC-injected animal whose nerve is shown in (B), more axons were seen in the proximal part of the nerve (arrows in B′), with rare axons along the nerve (arrow in B″) and reaching distal portion (arrow in B′′′). Gray arrowheads show autofluorescent signal in both nerves (A″, B′′′). Scale bar: (B) 500 μm; (B′′′) 100 μm