Figure 9. Confocal laser scanning microscopy on choroidal neovascularization membranes. Images display choroidal neovascularization (CNV) membranes of 2-month old C57BL/6 mice after subretinal injection of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells and microbeads. Tissues section with CNV lesions were stained with antibodies against various cytokines and cytokeratin (CK) 18 (left column) secondary Abs only; middle is with antibody to cytokine only; right shows merged image. Cytokine expression revealed a time-dependent release of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; A-C: post inoculation [PI] day 3), matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2 (D-F: PI day 7), MMP-9 (G-I; PI day 10), and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 (J-L; PI day 14) by CK 18-positive RPE cells.