Fig. 2
CD11bhiLy6Ghi cell depletion aggravates corneal nerve loss while increasing CD11bhiLy6Chi cells and IL-6. A, B Representative corneal photographs with fluorescein staining at 7 d post-injury (A). The green-stained areas are those with epithelial damage. Quantitative analysis of corneal opacity and epithelial defect at 7 d post-injury (B). C, D Representative images of corneal flat-mounts with β-tubulin III, Ly6G and Ly6C staining at 7 d post-injury and higher magnification views of corneal quadrant in each cornea (yellow box) (C). Quantitative analysis of β-tubulin III-stained, Ly6G-stained or Ly6C-stained areas (D). E, F Flow cytometric analysis for CD11bhiLy6Ghi cells and CD11bhiLy6ChiLy6Glo cells in peripheral blood at 1 and 7 d post-injury. G, H Levels of pro-inflammatory chemokine/cytokine mRNAs in cornea and blood cells at 1 d post-injury as analyzed by real-time RT-PCR. The values are shown relative to those in healthy, naive mice without injury. Mean values ± SD are shown, where each circle depicts the data from an individual mouse. A white circle depicts the data from a healthy, naive mouse without injury. A blue circle depicts the data from an injured mouse treated with isotype control IgG (2A3) and a red circle from an injured mouse treated with anti-Ly6G Ab (1A8). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001, ns: not significant, as analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test, Mann–Whitney U test (corneal epithelial defect in B) or by Kruskal–Wallis test and Dunn’s multiple-comparison test (CD11bhiLy6GloLy6Chi (1 d) in F)