TNF and dry eye syndrome: The quantitative RT-PCR (qPCR) results showed the significant up-regulation in TNF-α, IL-1β, and IFN-γ mRNA levels in the saline-treated dry eye rats, as compared to the saline controls (Fig. 2A–C, D+NaCl vs NaCl+NaCl, p < 0.001 for TNF-α, p < 0.05 for IL-1β, p < 0.01 for IFN-γ).