Fig. 2: Highly myopic mouse model exhibits increased anxiety-like behaviors, upregulated CCL2 expression in the eye, and higher CCL2 and monocyte levels in the blood.

a Representative photograph of a mouse wearing a −10 D lens to induce high myopia in the right eye. b Representative images of ocular MRI (sagittal) showing an obviously longer AL in the highly myopic eye than in the control and sham eyes. Yellow lines indicate the measurement of AL. c The refraction of the control, sham, and highly myopic eyes (n = 15 in each group). d Representative maps of animal tracking (black lines) in the dark showing increased anxiety-like behaviors in the mouse model of high myopia, manifested as shorter duration, fewer entries, and shorter distance traveled in the center (yellow square) of the open field (n = 12 in each group). e Representative maps of animal tracking (black lines) in the dark showing increased anxiety-like behaviors in the mouse model of high myopia, manifested as shorter duration, fewer entries, and fewer head dips in the open arms (pink and yellow area) of the elevated plus maze (n = 12 in each group). The blue and green areas refer to closed arms and the orange area refers to the center of the maze. f Immunofluorescent images of CCL2 staining in the mouse retina showing upregulated CCL2 expression in the RGC layer and PRC layer of highly myopic mice (n = 3 in each group). Scale bars: 25 μm. g Examination of CCL2 expression in mouse retina with western blotting. The band density of CCL2 was normalized to the loading control for statistical analysis (n = 3 in each group). h Measurement of CCL2 concentration in mouse blood with a proinflammatory biomarker array (n = 6 in each group). i, j Flow-cytometric quantification showed higher ratios of CD11b⁺/Ly6C^hi monocytes and CD11b⁺/F4/80⁺ monocytes in the blood of highly myopic mice than in the controls (n = 16 in each group). Data are mean ± SD. Levels of significance were detected with one-way ANOVA (c–e, g, h) and Student’s t-test (i, j). ****P < 0.0001, ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05, ns P > 0.05.