In Vitro Cultivation of Limbal Epithelial Stem Cells on Surface-Modified Crosslinked Collagen Scaffolds

Figure 6

Immunohistochemistry of primary limbal epithelial cells cultured on different carrier materials. Representative images of double immunostaining for detection of ΔNp63-DSG3, laminin-KRT3, and Coll-IV-KRT14 and monostaining for detection of INTB4 and E-cad. Overall, cultivated cells show high expression of (i) ΔNp63, a nuclear stem cell marker, (ii) KRT14, a cytoplasmic proliferation marker, and (iii) laminin, Coll-IV, INTB4, and E-cad, markers of corneolimbal basal cell adhesion molecules and LESC niche-related extracellular matrix. Low expression of proliferation markers DSG3 and KRT3 indicates that cultivated primary cells exhibit a LESC phenotype. All stains were negative in hydrogel-only (no cell) control samples (data not shown).