Figure 3.

NaIO₃ induces photoreceptor cell apoptosis. A TUNEL assay (red) was performed on control and NaIO₃ retinas. DAPI (blue) was used to stain the nuclei. The extent of photoreceptor cell death in retinas treated with NaIO₃ was comparable to that in control retinas. No TUNEL-positive cells were found in the ONL of the control samples (A). TUNEL-positive photoreceptors (red) were detected at 6 h post-injection and persisted until day 1 (B, C). TUNEL-positive RPE cells appeared attenuated at days 3 and 7 (D, E). The number of TUNEL-positive cells increased until 14th and 28th day PI, indicating that the cells were undergoing apoptosis (F, G).