Identification, Expression, and Roles of the Cystine/Glutamate Antiporter in Ocular Tissues

Figure 3

Schematic highlighting xCT mapping studies in ocular tissues. xCT labelling detected in the cornea [35, 37, 38], lens [10, 35, 40, 41], and retina [34, 35] collated from various studies. xCT labelling (green) was detected in the corneal epithelium but absent from the stroma and endothelium. In the lens, xCT (green) labelling in the mouse was detected in the epithelium and cortical fibres. However, in other species such as rat and human, xCT labelling could also be detected in the deeper lying fibre cells (not shown). In the retina, xCT labelling was detected in all the cell layers. However, these labelling patterns at least in the mouse retina could not be validated due to the lack of specificity of commercial xCT antibodies in neuronal tissue (highlighted by the “?”). The diagram was adapted from [35]. Retinal elements were adapted from Servier Medical Art, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.