METHODS: Totally 36 female New Zealand white rabbits were selected and operated with bilateral ovariectomy and fed for 60d postoperatively to make perimenopausal female rabbit dry eye model(36 eyes, all right eyes). And 24 of them were randomly divided into control group and experimental group(12 for each): the control group used PBS, the experimental group used Mulberry eye drops, the other 12 did not use any eye drops. The Schirmer I tests(SⅠt)and corneal fluorescein(FL)were made, and the tear total protein content, amylase activity, lactoferrin and lysozyme contents and confocal scanning microscopy were performed in two groups before treatment and 2, 4, 6wk after treatment.

RESULTS: There was no significant difference in SⅠt,FL scores,total proteins,lysozyme,lactoferrin contents and amylase activity between two groups at pre-therapy(all P>0.05).After 2, 4 and 6wk of treatment, there were significant changes in SⅠt and FL scores in the two groups(P<0.05). There were no significant changes in lysozyme content, lactoferrin, amylase activity and total tear protein in the experimental group compared with those before treatment(all P>0.05), while there were significant changes in lysozyme content, lactoferrin, amylase activity and total tear protein in the control group(all P<0.05). At 2, 4 and 6wk after treatment, there were differences in the scores of SⅠt and FL, lysozyme content, lactoferrin, amylase activity and total protein content in tear between the two groups(P<0.05). At 6 wk after treatment, the mean number of corneal basal cells and inflammatory cells in control group were 4436±289mm2 and 321±91mm2,respectively,which in experimental group were 3219±223mm2 and 36±11mm2, respectively,there were statistical differences between two groups( all P<0.05). After 6wk treatment, there were no change of corneal nerve bending and less density in control group while the nerve fiber bending and density decreased significantly in experimental group,there were statistical differences between two groups(all P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Mulberry eye drops has significantly therapy effects on the dry eye induced by decreased androgen and it has a definite clinical application value.