Fig. 6

Subconjunctival BiRDS suppressed retinal neovascularization and promoted healthy angiogenesis in the OIR mouse model. a Schematic description of the establishment of the OIR model and the design of the animal experiments. b Schematic representation of retinal flat-mount lesions (neovascularized and nonperfused areas) in OIR model mice and key morphological hallmarks of healthy angiogenesis (filopodia, tip cells, and stalk cells). c Upper: Retinal flat mounts after OIR and drug-treated OIR mice. Scale bar = 1 mm. Lower: higher-magnification images of pathological neovascular tufts. Scale bar = 50 μm. d Avascular area measured for quantification, as indicated by the dotted yellow lines. Scale bar = 1 mm. e Higher magnification images of pathological vessels sprouting from veins, as indicated by the dotted green line. Scale bar = 100 μm. f Upper: representative images of tip cells; the yellow arrowhead indicates tip cells. Scale bar = 50 μm. Lower: representative images of filopodia; yellow arrows indicate filopodia. Scale bar = 10 μm. g Retinal cryosections and immunofluorescence staining of drug-treated OIR mice. Scale bar = 50 μm. White: IB4 (vessels); red: CD31 (neovasculature); green: VEGFR; blue: DAPI (nuclei). h‒n Quantification of neovascular areas (h), avascular areas (i), sprouting areas (j), and tip cells (k) or counts of filopodia (l) and counts of neovascular cell nuclei anterior to the ILM (m) or vascular tube of the DCP (n). SCP, superficial capillary plexus; DCP, deep capillary plexus. Mean ± SD. n = 6. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01