Fig. 5: Topical antibiotic exposure in early postnatal life leads to longer-term effects on microbial colonization and ocular mucosal homeostasis.

a Principal coordinate analysis plot generated using OTU metrics based on the Bray-Curtis dissimilarities. Each point represents a sample. b The networks of co-occurring bacterial OTUs in conjunctiva of the groups after discontinued antibiotic/saline application for 1 week (C-4w, T-4w) and 2 weeks (C-5w, T-5w) based on the correlation analysis. The co-occurring networks are colored by phylum. A red edge indicates a positive interaction between two individual nodes, while a blue edge indicates a negative interaction. c Immunofluorescence of conjunctival sections of the groups which discontinued antibiotic/saline application for 1 week (C-4w, T-4w) and 2 weeks (C-5w, T-5w) with monoclonal antibodies against MHC II (green) and DAPI (blue). White squares are magnified on the bottom. The quantification of MHC II positive cells of conjunctiva in the Ctrl and Tob groups at 4 weeks and 5 weeks (n = 5 per group). d Immunofluorescence of conjunctival sections in the Ctrl and Tob groups at 4 and 5 weeks, in mice which had received topically applied OVA (45 KD) 30 min before euthanasia. Monoclonal antibodies are directed against CD11b (red) and DAPI (blue). White squares are magnified on the bottom. The quantification of CD11b positive cells in conjunctiva in the Ctrl and Tob groups at 4-and 5-week mice (n = 6 per group). Scale bars, 50 µm. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001 using the unpaired t test.