Figure 4. ALDH3A1 gene transcriptional change following corneal alkali burn

Real time quantitative PCR was performed to monitor ALDH3A1 gene transcription in normal and alkali burned mouse cornea. To avoid any possible sample handling error, mouse GAPDH was detected as an internal control. The ALDH3A1 transcription value was divided by the GAPDH transcription value obtained from the same template, and the resulting transcription proportion shown here. In normal mouse cornea, the ALDH3A1 transcription level was high, with a relative transcription level of about 11.481±0.436. At day one after alkali burn of the cornea, the transcription level dropped to 0.421±0.019 (p<0.001), it was then restored during healing of the cornea, to 0.747±0.078 (p<0.001) at day 4 post alkali burn and increased to 1.692±0.105 (p<0.01) at day 9.