Tunneling Nanotubes and the Eye: Intercellular Communication and Implications for Ocular Health and Disease

Figure 3

TNTs connecting inflammatory macrophages adhering to the corneal endothelium. (a) Confocal Z-stack of Iba-1⁺ (red) CD68⁺ (green) macrophages on the posterior surface of the corneal endothelium in mice one week after topical exposure to synthetic DNA, which causes accumulation of keratic precipitates [136] (asterisks denote nuclei of the endothelial cell monolayer). Interconnecting cytoplasmic TNTs are clearly visible between some of the macrophages (b, inset of dashed box in a), with punctate intracellular CD68⁺ signal visible between two cells (arrows; which represent approximately 3 μm distance from the endothelium). (c) Rotated view of Z-stack showing nanotube connecting the two cells (white arrow in c), which appears above the layer of the endothelium (blue arrow in c). Scale bar is 25 μm.

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