Representative optical coherence tomography (A and B) and transmission electron microscopy (C and D) images of rabbits receiving AAV5-gfp or AAV5-dcn.

<p>Optical coherence tomography was performed in live rabbits on day 10 after the AAV5-gfp or AAV5-dcn application and transmission electron microscopy was performed in corneas collected 14 days after AAV5-gfp or AAV5-dcn application. The optical scans of no decorin-delivered (A) and decorin-delivered (B) cornea suggest that tissue-selective targeted delivery of decorin gene with AAV5 in the rabbit stroma does not induce changes in corneal structure, thickness or shape. The TEM did not detect significant differences in collagen fibril diameter and arrangement in the naive (C) and decorin-delivered rabbit corneas (D) indicating that localized therapeutic levels of decorin delivery in the cornea does not appear compromise corneal health. dcn = decorin.