Fig. 5.

Effects of fullerenol or GSH on the cell proliferation of corneal epithelial cells and limbal stem cells in the cornea of UVB radiation-induced rats. a-d) Representative images of immunofluorescence for PH3 (red) and DAPI (blue) in different groups: a₁-a₃) Control group. b₁–b₃) UVB group. c₁–c₃) UVB + GSH group. d₁-d₃) UVB + Fullerenol group. a₁, b₁, c₁, d₁) Representative images of immunofluorescence for whole cornea. a₂, b₂, c₂, d₂) Representative images of immunofluorescence for cornea limbus. a₃, b₃, c₃, d₃) Representative images of immunofluorescence for central cornea. e) Comparison of the number of PH3 -positive cells in the cornea limbus. f) Comparison of the number of PH3 -positive cells in the central cornea. N = 3 samples per group. g-j) Limbal stem cell marker CK15 detection with immuno-fluorescence staining: g₁-g₃) Control group. h₁–h₃) UVB group. i₁–i₃) UVB + GSH group. j₁-j₃) UVB + Fullerenol group. Data were expressed as mean ± SEM from three independent experiments. *P < 0.1, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001 using one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey's test. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)