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. 2020 Jul 23;15(2):482–497. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.06.019

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Long-Term Evaluation of Transplanted Photoreceptor Precursors in a Normal, Non-lesioned Monkey Retina

(A) Following transplantation, SLO imaging of the retina 4 weeks post transplant shows three regions with fluorescent cells, two at or near retinotomies associated with injection attempts, and one at the inferior aspect of the bleb. Bleb boundary (dotted circle) and injection site (black arrow) are shown. Retinotomy site refers to the incision created during failed attempts to raise a bleb.

(B) Quantification of two areas of transplanted photoreceptors using FAOSLO. There is a gradual loss of individual cells in the main cell cluster at the inferior margin of the bleb; however, at the retinotomy site there was an increase in the the area of the cell clusterfrom 2 to 9 weeks, followed by apparent stabilization up to 41 weeks post transplantation.

(C) FAOSLO imaging tracking a tdTomato labelled cell cluster at the inferior mergin of the bleb (yellow box in A) over an 11-week period. White arrows show loss of single cells and small clusters over time.

(D) NIR reflectance AOSLO imaging showed the photoreceptor mosaic in the same region as (C).

(E) OCT showed the axial changes in the transplant shown in (C) over time with blue arrows indicating the location of the cell cluster.

(F) FAOSLO images tracking a tdTomato labelled cell cluster at the retinotomy site (red box in A) over a 41-week period are shown.

(G) OCT showing axial changes in the transplant shown in (F) at the retinotomy site a 41 week period. White arrows show the hole that was created at the retinotomy site. As shown, significant cell efflux was observed, which we attribute to raising the bleb and injecting donor cells simultaneously in this case.

(H–J) Immunohistochemistry at 41 weeks post transplant demonstrated the presence of transplanted cells (human cytoplasm+), including CRX/tdTomato+ photoreceptors, which filled the retinotomy site. (I and J) Transplanted photoreceptors matured in vivo to express cone (I) and rod (J) markers.