Fish Scale-Derived Scaffolds for Culturing Human Corneal Endothelial Cells

Figure 5

Expression of different proteins in cultured HCEnCs on Lab-Tek and FSS. ZO-1 staining for intracellular tight junctions to determine polymorphism and hexagonality of the cells in (a) Lab-Tek and (b) in FSS. Figure inserts show the overlay masks of the expression for calculation of hexagonality and polymorphism (polymegathism and pleomorphism). (c) High percentage of polymorphism () and low percentage of hexagonality () were observed when HCEnCs were cultured on FSS compared to Lab-tek slides. (d) Proliferative cells did not differ when the HCEnCs were cultured in (e) Lab-Tek and FSS and (f) did not show statistical significance (). (g) Vinculin as a focal adhesion marker showed a higher number of focal adhesions when HCEnCs were cultured on Lab-Tek compared to that on (h) FSS which was (i) marginally significant (). Figure inserts show the amount of vinculin expressed (number of focal adhesions) which was counted using binary images. HCEnC: human corneal endothelial cell; FSS: fish scale scaffold.