Figure 6. All the rats showing signs
of fungal keratitis were PCR positive with primers specific for
Fusarium. Agarose gel of PCR products from representative
rats fitted with contact lenses (CL; +), while the
contra-lateral eye served as a control (-). The contact lenses
were soaked overnight in Fusarium solani (+) for
experimental rats or PBS (-) for controls, before fitting on the
rat eye. The presence of a 250–300 bp band characteristic of Fusarium
sp. was detected only in the lanes (4, 6, 8, 10)
corresponding to the eyes fitted with Fusarium-soaked
contact lenses. Lane 2 corresponds to control eye fitted with a
contact lens soaked in saline solution, while lanes 1, 3, 5, 7,
9 represent contra-lateral eyes not fitted with contact lenses.
Both types of control eyes were negative. DNA from an ATCL F.
solani strain was used as positive control (lane 11).
Candida albicans and water were used as negative controls (lanes
12, 13). MM=λ ladder molecular marker.