Mouse cornea endothelial cells increase ploidy to compensate for cell loss in Fuchs dystrophy mouse model.

<p>(A and B) Spatial distribution and ploidy values (as indicated by color code) of mouse endothelial nuclei from WT or <i>Col8a2</i>^{<i>Q455K/Q455K</i>} mice at 7 months old. Nuclei not determined (ND, gray). Scale bar, 50μm. (C) Ploidy (%) distribution in indicate mouse genotypes and ages. (D) Endothelial nuclear number significantly declines in <i>Col8a2</i>^{<i>Q455K/Q455K</i>} compared to WT mice by 7 months. (E) Total endothelial ploidy is not significantly different between WT and <i>Col8a2</i>^{<i>Q455K/Q455K</i>} mice. (C-E) Quantified from 3 representative endothelial (150,000μm²) regions within corneas from age matched male mice as represented in A and B. Error bars represent standard deviation where *<i>p</i><0.05 and n.s., not significant (<i>p</i>>0.05) are based on two-tailed Student's <i>t</i> test.