Abstract
Purpose:
The study is to create an experimental proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) model induced by injecting rabbit conjunctival fibroblast cells (RCFs) into the vitreous cavity for testing new treatment for patients.
Methods:
One male New Zealand Red pigmented rabbit was used to generate RCFs. The concentration of the RCFs was 5.0 x 100000 /100uL in balance salt solution (BSS) per eye and the RCF viability was identified by Trypan Blue Exclusion Test. Eight male and eight female rabbits were injected intravitreally with RCFs. The day of the RCF injection was designated as Day 1 and the last day of the study was Day 28. The eye of the RCF injection was designated as the PVR eye and the contralateral eye as the non-PVR eye. All animals were received ocular examinations (OE) for signs of PVR at pre-study, Day 1 and 3, weekly and at pre-sacrifice. Classification of PVR is divided into six stages (0 - 5) using the clinical grading criteria. Intraocular pressure (IOP) and photography (OP) in all animals was measured and taken at pre-study, Day 1and 3, weekly and at pre-sacrifice. All animals were weighed at pre-study, weekly and at pre-sacrifice. All animals were monitored daily for signs of distress. Any additional gross ocular observations were recorded. All animals were observed for clinical observation daily and moribundity/mortality twice daily. All animals were sacrificed at the end of study and all eyes were enucleated and processed for histopathological evaluation.
Results:
All animals exhibited the PVR in the vitreous body of the PVR eyes and scored stage 4 or 5 by Day 28. The non-PVR eyes of animals were scored stage 0 as normal. IOP measurements in the PVR eyes showed no difference compared to those in the non-PVR eyes (p>0.05). None of the animals had any change their body weight during the course of the study. No significant clinical signs were observed. Histopathological report shows that fibrosis/fibroblast cells were noted and scored minimal to moderate in vitreous body and/or choroid and/or retinas/optic disc in all animals and retinal detachments were found in 11 animals in the PVR eyes, based on the microscopic observations.
Conclusions:
The PVR model was 100% successfully induced and the pigmented rabbit PVR model may provide a stable, effective and reliable method for testing of new treatment for patients.
Keywords: 688 retina •
474 conjunctiva •
655 proliferative vitreoretinopathy