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The experiments were performed on adult male albino Swiss mice (between 40 and 45 g) obtained from the breeding colony of the University of Murcia (Murcia, Spain). The animals were housed in temperature- and light-controlled rooms with a 12 hours light/dark cycle and ad libitum access to food and water. Light intensity within the cages ranged from 9 to 24 lux. All surgical procedures were performed under general anesthesia induced with an intraperitoneal (ip) injection of a mixture of ketamine (75 mg/kg, Ketolar®, Parke-Davies, Barcelona, Spain) and xylazine (10 mg/kg, Rompún®, Bayer, Barcelona, Spain). During recovery from anesthesia, the mice were placed in their cages and an ointment containing tobramycin (Tobrex®; Alcon, Barcelona, Spain) was applied to the cornea to prevent corneal desiccation and infection. Additional measures were taken to minimize discomfort and pain after surgery. The animals were killed with an ip overdose of pentobarbital (Dolethal Vetoquinol®, Especialidades Veterinarias, Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain).

All animals were anaesthetized by intraperitoneal administration of 150 mg/kg ketamine (Imalgene 1000, Merial-Sanofi, Barcelona, Spain) and 2 mg/kg xylazine (Rompún, Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany). Following this, an excisional circular defect (diameter = 1.5 cm) was created, involving all cutaneous and subcutaneous tissues. These lesions were situated on the proximal back region of the animals, in order to avoid manipulation. The wounds were observed and cleaned three times per week, until the end of the study.

Optical coherence tomography was conducted with general inhalational anesthesia utilizing 3% isoflurane (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL) at a rate of 1.5 L/min oxygen, employing a calibrated precision vaporizer. For electroretinogram analyses, animals underwent anesthesia through an intraperitoneal injection of a combination of ketamine (60 mg/kg, Ketolar, Parke-Davies, S.L., Barcelona, Spain) and xylazine (10 mg/kg, Rompún, Bayer S.A., Barcelona, Spain). Following anesthesia, a protective ointment (Tobrex; Alcon S.A., Barcelona, Spain) was applied to the eyes to prevent corneal desiccation. The euthanasia process involved an intraperitoneal injection of a lethal dose of sodium pentobarbital (Dolethal, Vetoquinol; Especialidades Veterinarias, S.A., Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain).