Table 2.

Comparison of tear compositions before (baseline) and after AE

	Group	Time			P value
		Baseline	0 min	30 min		Group ×Time	Group main effect	Time main effect
Lactoferrin (μg/ml)	1	110.08 ± 16.02	113.51 ± 12.28	114.69 ± 13.04	1 and 2	0.840	0.656	0.068
	2	111.63 ± 15.14	115.72 ± 15.46	114.88 ± 13.06
					2 and 3	0.535	0.038	0.706
	3	120.04 ± 16.92	120.24 ± 16.50	118.46 ± 16.26
MMP-9 (μg/L)	1	1071.16 ± 166.35	1058.28 ± 170.00	1059.03 ± 172.75	1 and 2	0.156	0.165	0.072
	2	1065.60 ± 157.43	984.20 ± 151.56	999.36 ± 171.43
					2 and 3	0.652	0.041	0.097
	3	976.62 ± 178.87	940.23 ± 190.27	959.15 ± 171.21
IL-6 (ng/L)	1	19.63 ± 2.05	19.49 ± 1.87	19.51 ± 2.02	1 and 2	0.221	0.185	0.107
	2	19.52 ± 2.01	18.50 ± 1.96	18.96 ± 2.16
					2 and 3	0.286	0.069	0.377
	3	18.42 ± 1.82	18.44 ± 2.07	18.60 ± 2.30
8-OHdG (ng/L)	1	105.17 ± 10.77	105.67 ± 10.95	105.62 ± 11.24	1 and 2	0.016	/	/
	2	105.43 ± 10.74	98.00 ± 11.74ab	98.23 ± 13.03ab
					2 and 3	0.142	0.229	0.031
	3	99.32 ± 12.84	95.65 ± 11.08	100.16 ± 12.20
OAHFA (pg/ml)	1	367.21 ± 40.58	366.66 ± 35.39	371.12 ± 32.89	1 and 2	0.704	0.842	0.904
	2	365.13 ± 43.50	369.71 ± 38.53	365.75 ± 36.82
					2 and 3	0.918	0.879	0.792
	3	362.77 ± 35.43	366.95 ± 40.08	368.28 ± 42.66
MUC5AC (μg/L)	1	92.65 ± 8.10	93.50 ± 8.21	93.83 ± 8.22	1 and 2	0.945	0.741	0.736
	2	93.54 ± 8.17	93.65 ± 9.24	94.34 ± 8.24
					2 and 3	0.412	0.019	0.492
	3	98.89 ± 9.81	95.35 ± 7.78	96.26 ± 8.13

Group 1: Dry eye without AE, Group 2: Dry eye with AE, Group 3: Pre-clinical dry eye with AE

^a There was a significant difference compared with baseline (P < 0.05)

^b There was a significant difference compared with Group 1 (P < 0.05)

MMP-9 matrix metalloproteinase-9, 8-OHdG 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine, OAHFA (O-acyl)-ω-hydroxy fatty acids, MUC5AC Mucin 5 subtype AC