Figure 9.

Mmp‐9 is required for the survival of regenerated cone photoreceptors. (a) Wholemounts of wild‐type (left) and mutant retinas (right) immunostained for ZO‐1. Unlesioned retinas are top; lesioned retinas at 21dpl are bottom. Asterisks indicate profiles of cones. In mutants, gaps due to missing cones are replaced by the irregular apical processes of Müller glia (dashed lines). (b) Number of unlesioned cones from wild‐type (546.49 ± 55.69; n = 5) and mmp‐9 ^mi5003 (565.33 ± 27.42; n = 5) *p = .516; below the number of regenerated cones from wild‐type (599.11 ± 27.42 cones; n = 5) and mutant retinas (436.09 ± 128.04 cones; n = 5) at 21 dpl. *p = .0238. (c) Western blot of retinas stained with antibodies against Gnat‐2 and Actin at 7, 14, and 21 dpl. (d) Densitometry of Gnat‐2 labeling in the Western blot. A significant difference in gnat‐2 levels were observed at 21 dpl. *p = .0014. Scale bar equals 10 μm [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]