Fig. 7

7E ameliorated disease severity in the DS-induced DED animal model. Mice were given a total of four subcutaneous injections of scopolamine in a low humidity-controlled environment chamber for 14 days to induce desiccating stress (DS)-induced DED. Uninduced mice were used as healthy controls (n = 3). Drugs including mIgG, 7E, and Xiidra (each group, n = 5) were administered topically three times a day from day 8. All mice were sacrificed on day 14 and eye tissue was removed. a Corneal fluorescein staining was performed to analyze the integrity of the corneal epithelium. Representative images were taken with a cobalt blue filter. b The fluorescein scores were blindly evaluated. One-way ANOVA, ***p < 0.001, and ****p < 0.0001. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. c Tear production was measured at the same time of day in the standard environment. One-way ANOVA, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, and ****p < 0.0001. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. d H&E staining was performed to observe corneal morphology. Original magnification: ×400. PAS staining was used to visualize the mucin content (red) in the conjunctiva. Nuclei were counterstained with hematoxylin (blue). Original magnification: ×200. e The corneal mRNA transcripts of Il1b, Il6, F4/80, Nos2, Mmp9, and Tnfa were analyzed by real-time PCR with specific primers. The conjunctival mRNA transcripts of Cd4 and Il17a were also analyzed. Gapdh was used as an internal control. One-way ANOVA, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, and ****p < 0.0001. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. The experiments in a–e were repeated three times independently with similar results, and the data of one representative experiment was shown. CEC controlled environment chamber, DED dry eye disease