Figure 9

The diving of vitreal vessels into the retina is evident with both flatmount and cross section analysis. Sequential frames from a confocal Z stack image of a P10 flatmount Lama1^nmf223 retina labeled with GFAP and GS isolectin demonstrated the diving of vessels (arrows and arrowhead) into the retina (A-D). Cross sections from P10 Lama1^nmf223 eyes were labeled with anti-PDGFRα (light blue), GS isolectin (green), anti-pan laminin (red), and DAPI (blue) to support this observation. Vessels from the vitreous were branching into the retina at this stage, primarily in the inner plexiform layer, as the deep vascular plexus was forming (paired arrows) (E-H). Laminin-positive astrocytes (solid arrowhead) were also observed on the vitreal side of the ILM (open arrowhead) near the VHP (arrows) (E-H). Scale bars indicate (A-D: 20 μm; E-H: 50 μm).