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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Prog Retin Eye Res. 2022 Jan 4;89:101039. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2021.101039

Figure 14. DCs and sensory nerve fibers/endings in healing normal and diabetic mouse corneas.

Figure 14.

(A) Unwounded corneas were double-stained for β-tubulin III (nerve marker) and CD11c (dendritic cell marker) and the limbal region was photographed. Normal (NL, left) corneas showed dendritic cells (DCs) located where sensory nerves of the basal plexus enter the superficial epithelium. In the diabetic (DM, right) cornea, the number of DCs and nerves are diminished, and this anatomical relationship appears to be lost. Arrows, dendriform DCs; arrowheads, round-shaped DCs. (B) The NL and DM corneas were wounded using epithelial debridement. The whole cornea from the limbus (L) to the leading edge was photographed (10x, lateral panels). Higher magnification images (40x) at the middle (NL1, DM1) and the leading edge (NL2, DM2) of healing migratory sheets are also shown. DCs appear at each end of the healing nerve fibers in the NL cornea, but this relationship is lost in the DM cornea. Arrow, co-localization of nerve endings with a DC in NL cornea; Arrowhead, free nerve ending in the DM cornea. The results are representative of two independent experiments (N=3). Diabetes delays epithelial wound closure, and disturbs the interactions of DC and regenerative sensory nerves. This figure was originally published in (Gao et al., 2016c).