Figure 1. Corneal thickness in Lum^-/-, Lum^-/-/Kera-Lum (Lum^-/-/TG), and WT mice

Thickness of corneal epithelial (A) and stromal (B) layers in Lum^-/-, Lum^-/-/Kera-Lum (Lum^-/-/TG), and WT mice are shown. Mice were anesthetized and the central corneas were scanned by confocal microscopy through focusing (CMTF) as described in Methods. Data represent the mean±SEM of six scans per mouse (three per eye) of 14 Lum^-/-, 21 Lum^-/-/Kera-Lum, and seven WT mice. Reexpression of lumican in Lum^-/- partially rescued the epithelial thickness in comparison to WT and Lum^-/-/Kera-Lum versus Lum^-/-; however, no significant improvement of stromal thickness could be determined comparing Lum^-/-/Kera-Lum to Lum^-/-. Both epithelial and stromal thickness are more reduced in Lum^-/- and Lum^-/-/Kera-Lum than in wild type mice. The asterisk indictates significannce (p<0.05) versus WT; The hash mark indicates significannce (p<0.05) versus Lum^-/- (ANOVA, Newman-Keuls test).