Fig. 9.

Pharmacological inhibition of p-Smad3 (SIS3) diminishes retinal damage. (A) SIS3 or PBS injections performed at 3 h before injury, daily during the first three days after injury, and then every other day until day 14. (B) IR (left) and OCT (right) images of the injury from a single animal at baseline, day 7 and 14. Arrows point to the central lesion depict the injury sites detected as hyper-reflective signal. Significant differences (****p < 0.001) between different time points were determined by two-tailed t-test (n = 12). (C) H&E-stained images of untreated and SIS3-treated retinas at day 14 after injury. Analyzed length was 100 μm, corresponding to the induced-laser burn. Significant differences in structural changes (****p < 0.0001) between untreated and SIS3 treated groups were determined by two-tailed t-test (n = 12). (D) Detection of PAX6 and OTX2 in GS⁺MCs in untreated and SIS3-treated mice. Shown are representative sections for GS (red) and PAX6 or OTX2 (green). (E) Schematic summary of molecular outcomes of SIS3 treatment in murine MCs. INL, inner nuclear layer; ONL, outer nuclear layer. Scale bar of the images equals 50 μm, while in the inserts corresponding to 150 μm