An Extended Dry Eye Animal Model
Angeline Albiar, Mindy Chen, Kathleen Dang, Demi Tran & Hung Truong
Mentor: Edward Wong
Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca, commonly known as dry eye, is an autoimmune disease of the conjunctiva
due to decreased tear production resulting in irritation of the cornea. A prolonged animal model for
dry eye is necessary to study the chronic effects of the disease. A rat model for dry eye was developed
via trigeminal denervation. A radiofrequency probe was inserted ventrally to thermally ablate the V1V2 junction using stereotaxic surgery. Corneal sensation was tested and tear production was
measured in each eye prior to surgery and on days 10, 15, and 20 after surgery. The experimental eye
showed significantly less tear production compared with the control eye. Prior to operation, baseline
tear production in both eyes was similar (6.3 ± 1.4 mm vs 6.6 ± 1.2 mm, p=.42). However, tear
production in the treated left eye was 29% less than the control eye on the tenth postoperative day,
60% on the fifteenth postoperative day, and 36% on the twentieth postoperative day. Postoperative
day 10 showed tear production in the treated left eye decreased by 25% prior to operation, by 51%
on day 15, and 25% on day 20. Control eye tear production levels did not show any significant
difference compared to preoperative production levels. Significant decrease in tear production in the
treated eye compared to the control eye (p<0.01) was supported by a sign comparison signed test. In
conclusion, our animal model is reliable in displaying the physical signs of dry eye for an extended
period of 20 days.