Fig. 5

General observation of wound healing status after treatment of ocular alkaline burn wound by 4D-CTH encapsulating rLESC-enriched limbal epithelium. a Immunofluorescent staining results of CK3/12 and CK13 in the rat corneal alkali burn model at day 15. Cytokeratin 3 and 12 (red) and Cytokeratin13 (green) were used as markers of the epithelium and conjunctiva. Scale bars = 100 μm. b Representative images of corneal opacity in the untreated alkali burned, 4D-CTH treated, traditionally treated, and 4D-CTH-rLESC treated groups at 0, 5, 10, and 15 days post-burn. c Corneal opacity score results. d Representative images of corneal neovascularization in the untreated alkali burned, 4D-CTH treated, traditionally treated, 4D-CTH-rLESC treated and normal groups at 15 days post-burn. e Corneal neovascularization score results. f Representative images of damaged corneal epithelium stained with sodium fluorescein in the untreated alkali burned, 4D-CTH treated, traditionally treated, and 4D-CTH-rLESC treated groups at 0, 5, 10, and 15 days post-burn. g Results of corneal epithelial wound healing level. The data expressed as mean ± SD of five rats per group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, n = 5