Accommodation dynamics in aging rhesus monkeys.

Accommodation, the mechanism by which the eye focuses on near objects, is lost with increasing age in humans and monkeys. This pathophysiology, called presbyopia, is poorly understood. We studied aging-related changes in the dynamics of accommodation in rhesus monkeys aged 4-24 yr after total iridectomy and midbrain implantation of an electrode to permit visualization and stimulation, respectively, of the eye's accommodative apparatus. Real-time video techniques were used to capture and quantify images of the ciliary body and lens. During accommodation in youth, ciliary body movement was biphasic, lens movement was monophasic, and both slowed as the structures approached their new steady-state positions. Disaccommodation occurred more rapidly for both ciliary body and lens, but with longer latent period, and slowed near the end point. With increasing age, the amplitude of lens and ciliary body movement during accommodation declined, as did their velocities. The latent period of lens and ciliary body movements increased, and ciliary body movement became monophasic. The latent period of lens and ciliary body movement during disaccommodation was not significantly correlated with age, but their velocity declined significantly. The age-dependent decline in amplitude and velocity of ciliary body movements during accommodation suggests that ciliary body dysfunction plays a role in presbyopia. The age changes in lens movement could be a consequence of increasing inelasticity or hardening of the lens, or of age changes in ciliary body motility.

Indomethacin and epinephrine effects on outflow facility and cyclic adenosine monophosphate formation in monkeys.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of indomethacin inhibition of prostanoid production on the epinephrine-stimulated increase in outflow facility and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production in the anterior segment of the monkey eye. METHODS: Topical indomethacin was given 1 hour before the intracameral administration of epinephrine to living cynomolgus monkeys. Outflow facility was measured for 45 to 60 minutes, beginning 3 hours after epinephrine administration, by two-level constant pressure perfusion of the anterior chamber. Cyclic adenosine monophosphate formation was measured in cell membranes isolated from rhesus monkey ciliary muscle, ciliary processes, trabecular meshwork, and iris in the presence of forskolin, indomethacin, epinephrine, or indomethacin and epinephrine combined. RESULTS: Three hours after the intracameral administration of 5.5 micrograms epinephrine, facility increased by approximately 40%, a putatively maximal response, at which time the intracameral epinephrine concentration was approximately 15 microM. Pretreatment with topical indomethacin produced a dose-dependent inhibition of epinephrine's facility-increasing effect; the maximum inhibition of 50% to 70% occurred at an indomethacin dose of 50 to 125 micrograms. Doubling the indomethacin dose (250 micrograms) produced no further inhibition, whereas a fivefold larger epinephrine dose (27.5 micrograms) did not overcome the inhibition. Forskolin and epinephrine both stimulated cAMP production in vitro, whereas [indomethacin] > or = 10(-4) M partially inhibited both basal and epinephrine-stimulated cAMP production in all four tissues. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately half of the epinephrine-induced facility increase is inhibited by indomethacin, but it is unclear whether the indomethacin-inhibitable fraction is mediated by epinephrine-stimulated prostanoid production or release.

Dose-related effects of prostaglandin F2 alpha isopropylester on intraocular pressure, refraction, and pupil diameter in monkeys.

Topical application of Prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) to the eye reduces intraocular pressure (IOP) in all mammalian species studied thus far, including humans. The L-isopropylester derivative is currently the one most commonly used in experimental and clinical studies. Dose-response relationships were determined between PGF2 alpha-IE and IOP, pupillary diameter, and refraction in ketamine-anesthetized ocular normotensive cynomolgus monkeys. Single doses of 10 and 30 micrograms had smaller and less consistent but longer lasting IOP-lowering effects than repeated doses (twice daily for 3 days) of 1-5 micrograms. For repeated dosing in this manner, the just-maximal dose is probably between 2-5 micrograms, producing a approximately 70% reduction in IOP to a final IOP of approximately 5 mm Hg. Continuing treatment for up to 18 days did not further enhance the efficacy of twice daily treatment with a submaximal 1-microgram dose. Partial reversal of anesthesia-induced tonic accommodation occurred with single 10- and 30-micrograms doses and with repeated 1-microgram doses, but additional myopia of 0.5-1.5 diopters was induced with repeated higher doses. These physiologic findings and previous morphologic data are consistent with a proposed dual PG action on the ciliary muscle, one involving a short-onset long-lasting direct effect on the muscle fibers (causing relaxation and narrowing of the muscle bundles) and the second involving a slowly developing but shorter duration dissolution of the intermuscular connective tissues.

The role of the iris in accommodation of rhesus monkeys.

After unilateral total iridectomy, maximum accommodation inducible by corneal iontophoresis of carbachol in rhesus monkeys was approximately 40% less in the iridectomized than in the contralateral untouched eyes, irrespective of age. Ultrasonographically measured anterior chamber shallowing and lens thickening were also less in the iridectomized eyes. Neither submaximal accommodation induced by intramuscular pilocarpine infusion nor maximum accommodation inducible by midbrain stimulation differed in iridectomized and intact eyes. The authors hypothesize that at maximum cholinomimetic drug-induced contraction, the iris sphincter muscle pulls the ciliary body farther forward and inward than does maximum ciliary muscle contraction alone, allowing additional rounding of the lens and, consequently, additional accommodative power.