Figure 6

Corneal abnormalities in Pax6^+/- and Pax6^+/-; Gli3^+/- eyes. Corneal morphology of (A) wild-type, (B) Gli3^+/-, (C) Pax6^+/- and (D) Pax6^+/-; Gli3^+/- animals. (C) Pax6^+/- and (D) Pax6^+/-; Gli3^+/- eyes have a thinner corneal epithelium and more hypercellular stroma (arrows in C) than wild-type (A) and Gli3^+/- (B) eyes. Graphs show relative thicknesses of (E) corneal epithelium and (F) corneal stroma of the various genotype groups. The corneal epithelium of Pax6^+/- and Pax6^+/-; Gli3^+/- eyes was significantly thinner than that of wild-type and Gli3^+/-eyes, both centrally and peripherally. The peripheral stroma of Pax6^+/-; Gli3^+/- eyes was thinner than that of wild-type and Gli3^+/- eyes, thus making the mean stromal thickness (average of peripheral and central) of Pax6^+/-; Gli3^+/- eyes significantly less than that of wild-type, Pax6^+/- and Gli3^+/- eyes. * = significantly different to wild-type; † = significantly different to Gli3^+/-; ‡ = significantly different to Pax6^+/-. ce, corneal epithelium; cs, corneal stroma. Scale bar = 50 μm.