A new model for examining chorioretinal adhesion experimentally

H. L. Kain

A method for examining retinal adhesion in vitro is described. Retinal detachment is produced experimentally by injecting Ringer's solution from a micropipette into the retinal pigment epithelial interface. The resulting detachment is a round blister, demonstrating equal retinal adhesion and elasticity in all directions under physiologic conditions. Measurement of hydrostatic pressure in the experimental detachment allowed postmortem changes to be followed up. Normal adhesion was found up to ten minutes after enucleation. Reduced adhesion was evident more than 15 minutes following enucleation; after 25 minutes, adhesion was so poor that blisters could no longer be formed. The loss of retinal adhesion seems to result from the exhaustion of metabolic substrates in the isolated tissue. Local alterations in adhesion, as after photocoagulation, can be detected as characteristic changes in the shape of experimental detachment and indicates enhanced, diminished, or unchanged adhesion. The present method, thus, defines normal conditions, identifies degenerative and artifactual changes, and permits localized changes in adhesion to be differentiated.