The Safety of Mitomycin-C in Glaucoma Filtration Surgery in Rabbits

ABSTRACT

To investigate the safety of subconjunctivally injected mitomycin-C(MMC) as an adjunctive therapy following the glaucoma filtration surgery(GFS), various amounts of MMC have been given to rabbit eyes after the surgery. To the control group, balanced salt solution(BSS) was injected subconjunctivally and 0.05mg MMC dissolved in BSS was given to the I experimental group I, 0.1mg to the group II, and 0.2mg to the group III. When the concentration of MMC in aqueous humor and cornea were measured at 30 min after the administration of MMC by high performance liquid chromatography, while no MMC was detected in aqueous humor, 1.2 +/- 0.5 micro gram of MMC/g of corneal tissue was detected for group III and 0.3 +/- 0.1 micro gram/g was found in group II. No MMC could be detected in corneal tissues of group I. The scanning electron microscopy which was done on the third day after surgery, revealed the most serious destructive changes of corneal endothelium in group III, while slight changes in group II, and no alteration in group I and control group. Based on these observations, subconjunctival injection of low dose(0.05mg) of MMC may be safe as an adjunctive method to enhance the success rate of GFS.