Fig. 1

Regenerated corneas of Göttingen mini-pigs at 12-months post-grafting with RHCIII-MPC compared to healthy, unoperated control corneas. a control cornea versus RHCIII-MPC implanted cornea both showing comparable optical clarity. Serial block face-scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) of single sections show that the epithelium is multilayered with comparable morphology including a layer of basal cells. Underlying the epithelium are stromal keratocytes arranged in lamellae. Scale bars, 50 µm. 3D reconstructions of the corneas show that both regenerated neo-cornea and healthy control comprise stromas with keratocytes arranged in highly ordered lamellae. b Light transmission profile of regenerated neo-corneas compared to healthy contralateral corneas. c Backscatter profile of regenerated neo-corneas compared to healthy contralateral corneas