Figure 3. Long-term effect of topical dexamethasone treatment on the constituency of immune cell populations.

Mouse corneas were infected with 10³ PFU HSV-1 or left UI as controls. Starting at 2 h p.i., mice were topically treated with DEX or VEH onto their corneas for 8 d p.i. before tissue collection at 30 d p.i. Single-cell suspensions were obtained from MLN, spleen, cornea, TG, and BS tissues and were stained with specific mAbs to phenotypically identify the leukocyte populations. Representative flow cytometry plots and bar graphs summarizing the phenotypic leukocyte count means ± sem are shown for MLN (A), spleen (B), cornea (C), TG (D), and BS (E) tissues of mice treated with VEH or DEX. Cell populations in the F4/80 vs. GR1 plots indicate macrophages, inflammatory monocytes, and PMNs. Cell populations inside the CD4 vs. CD8 plots indicate CD4⁺ (top left) and CD8⁺ (bottom right) T cells. UI groups: n = 4–5. Infected groups: n = 8–10 for MLN, n = 6–8 for spleen, n = 6–12 for cornea, n = 6–12 for TG, and n = 11–12 for BS, from 4–5 independent experiments. (A, B, D, and E) *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 for indicated comparisons by ANOVA, followed by Bonferroni multiple-comparison test. (C) *P < 0.05 by unpaired t test comparison.