Supplemental Figure S4.

Effect of i.p. delivery of dexamethasone on viral titers and corneal sensitivity. Mouse corneas were infected with 10³ plaque-forming units HSV-1, or left uninfected (UI) as scarified controls (sc UI). A: Immediately after corneal infection and at 4 days post infection (pi), mice received i.p. injections of 10 mg/kg DEX or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) as vehicle control. Left panel: bars show mean viral contents in corneas at 2 days pi measured by plaque assay (from two independent experiments). Right panel: bars show mean Cochet-Bonnet score at 6 days pi for the indicated experimental groups. B: Starting at 2 hours pi, mice were topically treated with DEX or VEH onto their corneas for 6 days pi. Bars show mean Cochet-Bonnet score at 6 days pi for the indicated experimental groups. Data are given as means ± SEM (A and B). n = 4 per group (A, left panel); n = 6 per sc UI group (A, right panel); n = 12 per infected group (A, right panel); n = 16 per sc UI + VEH group (B); n = 23 to 26 per infected group (B). ^∗P < 0.05, ^∗∗P < 0.01 by analysis of variance, followed by Bonferroni multiple comparison test.