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Abstract
This report describes a method for the measurement of the anti-inflammatory effects of drugs on immunogenic ocular inflammation in rabbits. Two standard anti-inflammatory drugs, dexamethasone and oxyphenbutazone, were used to illustrate the results obtainable with the method. Inflammation was assessed by a refined scoring system for biomicroscope examination, scoring fluorescein angiograms, and measuring elevations of corneal temperatures. There were significant correlations between these three methods. Measuring elevations of corneal temperatures using a noncontact method (infrared radiometer) was shown to give an objective measure of ocular inflammation and, in addition, could be performed many times during an experiment without disturbing the experimental animals. Topical treatment with dexamethasone and oxyphenbutazone over a 24-hour period produced significant suppression of inflammation for the whole of the experiment (72 hours) with dexamethasone, but only during the dosing period with oxyphenbutazone.