ABSTRACT
Condensation and contraction of the vitreous have been implicated in the development of vitreoretinal traction and traction retinal detachment after penetrating ocular injury. In this study, using the inorganic dye ruthenium-red, we studied ultrastructural changes in vitreous in the rabbit eye after standard penetrating injury and intravitreal blood injection. In normal rabbit vitreous the collagen fibrils have a regular arrangement. In contrast, after a penetrating injury the collagen fibrils appear focally condensed. While it appears unlikely that such a network could alone produce tractional or directional forces, these alterations along the collagen fibrils could provide a scaffold along which contractile cells migrate into the vitreous.
Subject(s)
Collagen/metabolism , Eye Injuries/pathology , Vitreous Body/pathology , Wounds, Penetrating/pathology , Animals , Cytoskeleton/ultrastructure , Microscopy, Electron , Rabbits , Retina/pathology , Retinal Detachment/pathology , Retinal Hemorrhage/pathologyABSTRACT
In posterior-segment penetrating injuries, the role of cellular and extracellular structures for the development of fraction retinal detachment is a matter of controversy. With the use of immunofluorescence techniques, we studied the cellular components of intravitreal membranes, with particular attention to the presence of intracellular contractile proteins. Our results demonstrate increasing concentrations of intracellular actin filaments in 12- to 21-day-old membrane specimens at the time when traction retinal detachment is most likely to occur in the rabbit eye. The sequence of events reflects the same process that occurs in the wound-healing response throughout the body. The specialized anatomy of the eye, particularly the vitreoretinal relationship at the vitreous base, accounts for the disastrous consequence of fraction retinal detachment.
