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Figure 5. Regeneration of the tadpole lens. A: Schematic showing the process of lentectomy in Xenopus tadpoles and regeneration of the lens from the outer cornea. The outer cornea is cut with iridectomy scissors and flipped back, and the lens is extracted through the inner cornea using watchmaker's forceps. The outer cornea is then replaced. B–E: Histological sections of eye after lentectomy at st. 50, stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Freeman's 1965 regeneration stages are used, but B = 24 hr after lentectomy, C 2 days, D 3 days, and E 8 days. c, cornea; r, retina; i, iris; v, vitreous; l, lentoid. Arrows denote the outermost layer of the cornea. Arrowheads in C mark aggregation of transdifferentiating cells. F: transgenic tadpole eye showing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the lens, driven by the γ-crystallin promoter. F′: same eye after lentectomy. G–I: Fluorescent views, and brightfield views (G′–I′). G,G′: Transgenic eye 5 days after lentectomy, green cells in G are newly differentiated lens cells. H,H′: Transgenic eye 14 days after lentectomy, a new lens and a rare ectopic lentoid can be seen (white arrow). I, I′: Eye on the left was subjected to lentectomy and has regenerated a new lens. Scale bar = 50 μM in E (applies to panels B–E).

Image published in: Beck CW et al. (2009)

Copyright © 2009. Image reproduced with permission of the Publisher, John Wiley & Sons.

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