FIGURE 8

Corneal innervation in different age groups. Acetylated tubulin whole mount staining on maximum intensity projection images of whole eyes (A–F) and in central regions (A′–F′). Additionally, the peripheral/limbal region is shown for adult stage (F''). Orange color indicates the signal on the entire corneal tissue, yellow refers to the epithelial compartment, and red to the stromal compartment. During the first 1.5 months (A′–D′) the signal remains scarse on central cornea; the thickest neuronal branches can be observed in the peripheral regions (A–D). At 60 dpf, the innervation is getting more dense, and distinct stromal (red) and epithelial (yellow) processes can be identified (E,E′). In the adult cornea, thick peripheral nerve fibers branch and enter the epithelial compartment, forming an even, centrally-oriented pattern (F–F). The epithelial versus stromal fibers organize to distinguishable networks (F′,F). Three samples were checked per age group. Scale bars: 100 µm in the overview images, 10 µm in the magnified images.