Figure 4. Effect of the nitric oxide donor
SNP on immunoreactivity for αSMA and fibronectin. Sparsely covered
explants were cultured for nine days in the control medium (A-C)
or in the control medium containing SNP (D-J). αSMA (B
and E) and fibronectin (C and F) were then
immunolocalized in fixed whole mounts of representative explants by a
double-labeling technique with Hoechst counter-staining of nuclei (A
and D). Regions of the lens capsule that became denuded of
cells during culture are indicated by an asterisk. The occasional small
patches of cells that remained in explants cultured in the control
medium alone (A) expressed strong reactivity for αSMA (B)
and fibronectin (C). Reactivity for the latter was present
throughout the explant including denuded regions of capsule where it
was often present in fibrillar form (C, arrowheads). The region
indicated by the arrow in A is given at higher magnification in
the inset to show the fragmentation of nuclei. When SNP was included
during culture (D), specific reactivity for αSMA (E) and
fibronectin (F) was not detectable. The bar represents 50 μm in A-F
and 20 μm in inset in A. SNP stands for sodium nitroprusside,
and αSMA stands for α-smooth muscle actin.