Under all experimental conditions tested, subretinal blebs
and retinal detachment were created easily within a few minutes. There
were, however, apparent differences in the amount of adherent RPE.
Figure 1 shows samples of neural retinas (with photoreceptor outer segments up)
after retinal detachment had been induced under different conditions.
The lower magnifications (
Fig. 1 , left column) provide a view of larger
retinal areas (1.7 × 2.2 mm), whereas the higher magnifications
(
Fig. 1 , right column) show arrangements of individual adherent RPE
cells. It is apparent that at room temperature, less RPE was adherent
when the retinal detachments were performed with the calcium- and
magnesium-free solution
(Figs. 1C 1D) than when performed with a
standard intraocular solution
(Figs. 1A 1B) . By contrast, if the
calcium- and magnesium-free solution was used at body temperature, the
adherence of RPE to the neural retina was similar to that under
standard conditions
(Figs. 1E 1F) . When the retinal detachment was
created with the standard solution in dark adapted animals, virtually
no RPE was adherent to the neural retina
(Figs. 1G 1H) . Similar
results were obtained when scanning electron micrographs were studied
(compare with
Figs. 4A 4B 4C ). In some cases, large sheets of
continuous RPE adhered to the light-adapted retina after detachment in
standard solution
(Fig. 4A) . This was never observed when the calcium-
and magnesium-free solution was used or when the animals had been dark
adapted.
Figure 2 shows the statistical analysis of these observations as a box plot
diagram. A highly significant reduction in RPE adherence was achieved
by using the calcium- and magnesium-free solution at room temperature
(
P < 0.01) and, particularly, by dark adaptation of
the surgically treated eyes (
P < 0.001).