Fig. 3

Density and percentage of cone photoreceptors in rd2 retinas. DAPI, TUNEL and Cone-Arrestin (CAR) staining DAPI, TUNEL, and Cone-Arrestin (CAR) stainings in wt retina (A–I’) and rd2 retinas (J-R’). Arrows indicate cones, and circles indicate colocalized cones stained with TUNEL, CAR, and in the merged image. Both the percentage and density of cone photoreceptors were decreased in ONL of rd2 retinas compared to corresponding wt retinas at P15, P18, and P24 (S, T). The density of cone photoreceptors per 10 µm area was decreased in both the ventral and dorsal area (V) as well as in the peripheral, middle, and central to the optic nerve in rd2 retinas (U). The total percentage of TUNEL-positive photoreceptors in the rd2 retinas at P18 was significantly increased (W). The percentage and density of dead cone photoreceptors in the rd2 P18 retinas were higher than the percentage of dead rod photoreceptors (X, Y). The table represents the percentage of dead cones, rods, and total photoreceptors (Z). Circles indicate representative cone photoreceptors. The images shown are representative for observations on at least three different specimens for each genotype. n ≥ 3, significance levels: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p< 0.0001. One-way and two-way ANOVA tests with Tukey’s test for multiple comparisons. Unpaired t-tests