Fig 8.
PlyB was effective in treating Bacillus keratitis. Bacillus keratitis was induced by inoculating 106 CFU B. cereus onto scratched C57BL6/J mouse corneas. Infected eyes were treated with 420 µg/mL PlyB or 250 µg/mL gatifloxacin every hour for 5 hours. Treated and untreated eyes were harvested and analyzed for bacterial count and histology. (A) PlyB and GAT significantly reduced B. cereus load. Values represent means ± SEM of n ≥5 eyes. *P ≤ 0.01 and ns P ≥ 0.05. (C) Harvested eyes were processed for hematoxylin and eosin staining. B. cereus (black arrows) were observed in the corneal epithelial layers in untreated eyes. In contrast, no bacteria were seen in PlyB- and GAT-treated corneas. Fibrin accumulation was present in all infected eyes. However, the amount was comparatively low in the section of PlyB-treated eyes. Sections represent two eyes per time point with at least two independent experiments: original magnification top panel ×10, bottom panel ×40. Ep, epithelial layers; St, stroma; En, endothelial layers; Ac, anterior chamber.