Apoptosis of conjunctival epithelial Cells and stromal cells in airlift cultures.

<p>Lanes A and C were counterstained with the nuclear of DAPI dye. Lanes B and D show apoptotic cells based on green fluorescence using the TUNEL assay in the same visual field. Apoptotic cells appeared in both the epithelium and stroma from day 2 to day 14 in airlift cultures, while there were no apoptotic cells in freshly isolated healthy ex vivo conjunctival tissue before culture (D0), and only sporadic apoptotic cells in submerged explants throughout the culture duration (SUB D2 and SUB D14). Bar represents 200 µm.