FIG. 10.

Neovascularization (NV) of corneas after SM with and without doxycycline. Neovascularizations were not seen in unexposed controls or in any SM-exposed corneas at days 1 and 3, but were present at days 7 and 28. (A) Quadrants and scoring criteria diagram. For scoring, 0 indicates no new vascularization present; 1 indicates the longest vessel's length is up to ∼25% of the radius of the cornea; 2, the longest vessel's length is up to ∼26%–50% of the radius of the cornea; 3, the longest vessel's length is up to ∼51%–75% of the radius of the cornea; and 4, the longest vessel's length is greater than ∼75% of the radius of the cornea. (B) Tally of days 7 and 28 neovascularizations for each SM-exposed eye. Note that there were 6 rabbits assessed at 7 days, 3 that were to be sacrificed at 7 days, and 3 that were to be sacrificed at 28 days. (C) Histogram depiction of the increase in neovascularization with time, showing that SM-exposed animals had the greatest extent of angiogenesis (black bars). Applying doxycycline drops 3 times/day for 28 days (dark gray bars) attenuated neovascularization by ∼30%, and applying hydrogels with doxycycline (light gray bars) daily for 28 days attenuated it by ∼48%. Statistics: Kruskal–Wallis analysis was performed on total neovascularization grade scores for each day. P values for preexposure corneas, as well as 1 and 3 days postexposure corneas were 1.0000 because of all values being the same for all animals at these time points. The 7 days P value was 0.0328 and for 28 days it was 0.0465. A P value of <0.05 was considered significant.