Fig. 1

BAK insult led to morphological and pathological changes in the ocular surface of mice. A Representative close-up images of the mice cornea showing the change in opacity and fluorescein sodium staining pattern over time following BAK-induced injury. B and C are the corresponding scoring graphs; n = 7 cornea measurements per group. Besides evaluating morphological changes, the mice’s ocular surface was also subjected to functionality tests which assessed D tear production; n = 14 cornea measurements per group, E tear break-up time; n = 14 cornea measurements per group and F corneal sensitivity; n = 14 cornea measurements per group. G Preliminary qPCR screening of the cornea on Day 14 post-BAK injury revealed heightened expression of inflammatory genes such as Il1b and Tnfa; n = 3 experimental repeats. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001. All data were presented as mean ± SD