Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the retinal toxicity of intravitreal administration of the purified fatty acid docosahexaenoic (DHA) in rabbit eyes.
Methods: :
Sixteen New Zealand albino rabbits were selected. Six concentrations of DHA (Brudy Laboratories, Barcelona, Spain) were prepared: 10, 5 and 2.5 µg/1 µL; and 50, 25, and 5 µg/50 µL. A volume of 0.05 ml of each concentration was injected intravitreally in the right eye of 2 rabbits. As a control, 0.05 ml of saline solution was injected into in the right eye of 4 animals. Retinal safety of intravitreal DHA was assesed by electroretinography (ERG) -changes between before and 1 week after the injection-; and by histologic examination of the retinal samples obtained after sacrificing the rabbits.
Results: :
We evidenced a severe intraocular inflammation in eyes treated with 10 µg/1 µL, 5 µg/1 µL and 2’5 µg/1 µL DHA concentrations. The ERG studies -amplitude and time of A and B waves- did not show significant difference (p< 0,01) between control and DHA-injected eyes. The histologic examination did not evidence any retinal abnormality in the rabbits injected with different concentrations of DHA.
Conclusions: :
DHA may be a safe intravitreal drug in the rabbit model up to 50 µg/50 µL. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the safety and efficacy in human.
Keywords: drug toxicity/drug effects • retina • antioxidants