Achieving sustained ocular hypertension in rats using a modified technique Microbead Occlusion

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The development of a sustained ocular hypertension model in animals is highly valuable to glaucoma research. Microbead occlusion was previously reported to induce ocular hypertension in rodents. We propose a modified approach to microbead occlusion that is easily repeatable and transferrable. METHOD: 10μL microbeads in 1 ml of Healon-GV viscoelastic is injected into the anterior chamber of the rat eye via a 30-gauge needle. A further 10μL of Healon-GV viscoelastic was injected to push the microbeads from the center to the trabecular meshwork. The contralateral eye is used as a control. RESULTS: One week after injection, the mean IOP of injected eyes was 19.87±3.52mmHg, compared to control, which was 14.60±2.07mmHg. Three weeks after injection, the difference between injected eyes and contralateral eyes was also significant with mean IOP of 20.47±3.22mmHg compared to 15.39±2.28mmHg (p<0.05) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This a repeatable method for establishing sustained ocular hypertension in rats.