Figure 6

Corneal lymphangiogenesis after stage-specific macrophage depletion after corneal suture placement. Macrophages were depleted by clodronate liposomes either in early stage (days 0–7), midstage (days 7–14), late stage (days 14–21), or advanced stage (days 28–35) after suture placement (suture removal was performed on day 14). (A–H) Representative corneal whole mounts stained with LYVE-1 in PBS liposome (control) and clodronate liposome treated mice. (I–L) Quantification of corneal lymphatic vessels (LV) after stage-specific macrophage depletion (p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant). Early and midstage depletion resulted in significant reduction of corneal lymphangiogenesis after suture placement. Late and advanced stage macrophage depletion accelerated LV regression.