Fig. 3
Pathological changes in the central corneal epithelium at Day 28. In the healthy control samples, the epithelium shows a normal thickness with distinct cellular layers, whereas the limbal region has intact crypts and a well-organized collagen architecture (a, d, g, j). In contrast, the study group exhibited regions of epithelial thinning, characterized by keratinization of the superficial layer (red arrow), reduced epithelial layers, and proliferation of basal cells (b, e, h, k). Areas of epithelial thickening display increased numbers of cellular layers, increased keratinization (red arrow), and altered wing cell morphology (green arrow) (c, f, i, l). Brackets in panel (a) indicate the three major epithelial layers: (a) basal cells, (b) wing cells, and (c) superficial cells.
