Stem Cell Therapy for Treatment of Ocular Disorders

Figure 6

Electron microscopy pictures of telocyte-putative stem cell junctions observed in the human heart. The picture describes the contact point (arrowheads) among a putative stem cell and a telocyte (blue color). Broader planar contacts (double arrows) can be observed. (a) The average distance between the putative stem cell and plasma membranes of telopode, Tp, is 43 ± 20.3 nm (min: 20.3 nm; max: 90.6 nm). E, endothelial cell; sv, shed vesicles; CM, cardiomyocyte. (b) High magnification on a consecutive ultrathin region of the rectangular site indicated in (a) describes the geometry of the 8 μm long heterocellular connections; plasma membranes of tight-fitting apposed sectors (double arrows); dot contacts (arrowheads) change with planar contacts. A small cellular projection of putative stem cell (arrow) is located on a small recess of the telocyte. Thick nanostructures (15–20 nm) can be found with connection of the plasma membranes of the cells (white arrowheads). Bars represent 2 μm. Modified with permission from Creative Commons Attribution License [116].