Figure 2.

Morphological changes seen after MC degranulation in the 48/80- hydrogel implanted rats. A) Choroidal flat mount labeled for RPE65. Healthy hexagonal RPE cells decreased with time, area of degenerated RPE expanded, and the presence of enlarged cells with multi-nuclei increased with time. Scale bar, 100 μm. B) Percentage of RPE degenerated in the 48/80-hydrogel implanted eyes on the gel and the non-gel side with time after implantation of 48/80-hydrogel. The blank hydrogel implanted eye values were at 6 wk (n = 12–13, per group). C) Representative cross sections of eyes embedded in glycol methacrylate that received a blank hydrogel or 48/80 on the non-gel, at the border of atrophy, and atrophic region on the gel side at 10 wk post implantation. Brackets (U) designate outer nuclear layer or photoreceptor nuclei. Scale bar, 50 μm. D) Area of retina and choroid evaluated in cross sections stained with picrosirius red (n = 6, per time point). E, F) Representative scotopic ERGs at 10 wk. Graphs showing comparison of amplitude of a- and b-waves with the stimuli of 0.01, 0.1 and 1 cd.s/m² at 6 wk (n = 9), 8 wk (n = 6) and 10 wk (n = 7) compared to the blank gel (n = 8). Data are mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, 2-tailed, unpaired Student’s t test.