Figure 1. Fibroblast growth factor 2 in rat lenses at different healing intervals

Anterior capsular injury was produced by a hypodermic needle in one eye of adult Wistar rats (6 rats per healing interval) under both general and topical anesthesia as described in Methods. The injured animals were allowed to heal for 2 h and 1, 3, 5, 7, or 14 days. Normal and healing, injured lenses were obtained and were sonicated in PBS with a ultrasound tissue homogenizer (1 ml/g). The amount of FGF2 in each of individual lens and aqueous humor samples was determined using an enzyme immunoassay kit. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) protein begins to be accumulated in healing, injured lens at day 5 post-injury.