Fig. 5

a Clinical follow-up examination and photography of the implanted right eye after the implantation surgery; upper row: animal no. 5. Week 1 and 2: corneal edema, corneal incision sufficiently sutured; weeks 4 to 12: regression of the corneal edema under topical treatment with antibiotics and corticosteroids. Development of corneal scarring, fibrosis. Central opacity given at all times. Lower row: animal no. 1, week 1 to 4: corneal edema and vascularization; weeks 9 to 12: regression of corneal edema under topical treatment with antibiotics and corticosteroids. Central opacity not given at all times. US ultrasound, OCT optical coherence tomography. b OCT imaging of the cornea after implanting an inactive OPTO-EPIRET array into a rabbit eye. Note the corneal thickness due to edema (yellow caliper; first OCT: animal no. 5, week 12; second OCT: animal no. 1, week 12; last OCT: control of left non-implanted eye, animal no. 5; c hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of the cornea, top: cornea of implanted eye, animal no. 5, middle: cornea of implanted eye, animal no. 1, bottom: control left eye (animal no. 5); scale bar represents 500 µm