Intravitreal toxicity of ketorolac tris salt and flurbiprofen.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To determine the retinal toxicity of intravitreal ketorolac tris salt and flurbiprofen. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-two New Zealand rabbits were injected intravitreally with 125, 250, or 500 microg or 1 mg of ketorolac tris salt or flurbiprofen in one eye and 8 fellow eyes were injected with 5% dextrose as a control. All animals underwent indirect ophthalmoscopy and slit-lamp biomicroscopy before injection and on days 1, 7, and 14 after the intravitreal injection. Electroretinography was performed on all animals before injection and on day 14 after the injection before the animals were killed. The enucleated eyes were prepared for histology. RESULTS: Clinical examination, electroretinography results, and histological evaluation demonstrated no signs of retinal toxicity for either drug at any dose. CONCLUSIONS: Intravitreal doses up to 1 mg of ketorolac tris salt and 1 mg of flurbiprofen did not cause retinal toxicity in the rabbit eye.

Inhibition of corneal angiogenesis by ascorbic acid in the rat model.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of topically administered ascorbic acid on experimentally induced corneal neovascularization in the rat model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Corneal chemical cauterization of 72 eyes in Long-Evans male rats was performed using silver nitrate/potassium nitrate sticks. Nine groups of eight eyes were used to evaluate eight concentrations of ascorbic acid with one group of eight eyes serving as a control. Topical instillation of 100 mg/ml non-pH-neutralized ascorbic acid was performed in one group while the remaining seven groups were evaluated using pH-neutralized ascorbic acid in concentrations of 100 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml, 10 mg/ml, 5 mg/ml, 1 mg/ml, 500 microg/ml, and 250 microg/ml. RESULTS: The percentage of corneal neovascularization and burn stimulus score was determined for all the eyes. The means of percent of corneal neovascularization in ascorbic acid 100 mg/ml (non-neutralized), 100 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml, 10 mg/ml, 5 mg/ml, 1 mg/ml, 500 microg/ml, 250 microg/ml, and control group were 17.50 +/- 12.80 (p = 0.001), 17.00 +/- 19.30 (p = 0.001), 15.25 +/- 13.26 (p = 0.001), 17.62 +/- 11.89 (p = 0.001), 28.87 +/- 23.08 (p = 0.001), 29.62 +/- 16.91 (p = 0.001), 60.12 +/- 8.50 (p = 0.04), 65.62 +/- 2.26 (p = 0.185), and 68.25 +/- 4.06, respectively (Tables 1 and 2). All animals had a burn score of 2+ or higher (Table 1). CONCLUSION: Ascorbic acid applied in a topical solution appears to inhibit corneal neovascularization in the rat model of inflammatory neovascularization in concentrations in a dose-dependent manner. The optimal dose-effect relation was in our model found in concentrations between 1 mg and 500 microg/ml. At concentrations below 500 microg/ml there was no statistically significant inhibition in the degree of corneal neovascularization compared to control.

Absorption of diode 810 nm used for transpupillary thermotherapy by blood. An in vitro study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the in vitro energy attenuation by transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT) using an 810-nm diode laser after the treatment of exudative age-related macular degeneration. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experiment, an 810-nm diode laser was coupled to a slit lamp to deliver laser energy to a laser-power sensor adjusted in the track of the laser light. The spotlight was 0.5 mm in diameter; duration of exposure, 3 seconds. Citrated Pasteur pipettes were filled with blood diluted in saline in several concentrations and placed in the path of the laser light. The absorption of the light measured by the power sensor was tested for various delivered irradiances between 50.92 and 509.29 W/cm2. The differences were analyzed statistically. RESULTS: There were significant differences in laser blockage comparing various conditions for all power levels (P<0.05). Increasing the proportion of blood resulted in more laser blockage with all irradiances (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Blood significantly blocks the transmission of the 810-nm diode TTT laser.