4.4. Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy

To characterize corneal epithelial cell structure in more detail, we conducted studies by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM, ESEM XL-30, Philips, Eindhoven, The Netherlands) as previously reported [48]. For this analysis, isolated corneas were transferred into 2% (v/v) aqueous glutaraldehyde fixative, fixated in osmium oxide, processed through acetone dehydration steps and finally critical point dried at 43 °C.