Fig. 5

Gallic acid (GA) can effectively reduce corneal fluorescein sodium spot staining and cornea epithelial cell apoptosis. Corneal fluorescein representative figures (a) and staining scores (b) show the staining of the T-NC, T-EDE, T-EDE + PBS, and T-EDE + GA groups 15 days after desiccant stress. Apoptotic corneal epithelial cells count (c) and representative figures (d) show the apoptosis conditions of the T-NC, T-EDE, T-EDE + PBS, and T-EDE + GA groups 15 days after desiccant stress. The data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 5). ****P < 0.001 compared to the T-EDE group. EDE, experimental dry eye; PBS, phosphate buffered saline; T, therapeutic effect of drugs; T-NC, treatment group of the normal control group, not received EDE, not given eye drops; T-EDE, treatment group of the EDE group, received EDE, not given eye drops; T-EDE + PBS, treatment group of the EDE + PBS group, received EDE, given PBS eye drops; T-EDE + GA, treatment group of the EDE + GA group, received EDE, given GA eye drops