Quantification of cellular proliferation in experimental proliferative vitreoretinopathy
D. L. Hatchell, T. McAdoo, S. Sheta, R. T. King 3rd and J. V. Bartolome
Department of Ophthalmology, Duke University, Durham, NC.
Proliferation of host cells from around the optic nerve head has recently
been implicated in the development of experimental proliferative
vitreoretinopathy in rabbit eyes injected with homologous fibroblasts. We
used liquid scintillation spectrometry to quantitate the tritiated
thymidine incorporation into cells in the vitreous, retina, and optic nerve
head following intravitreal injection of 250,000 homologous dermal
fibroblasts. Cellular proliferation peaked three days after injection of
the fibroblasts. The amount of tritiated thymidine incorporation that
occurred three days following injection of irradiated homologous
fibroblasts (incapable of cellular division) was not significantly
different than that following injection of normal homologous fibroblasts,
indicating that host cells were responsible for most of the cellular
proliferation. Treatment with fluorouracil or triamcinolone acetonide
completely arrested cellular proliferation following injection of normal
fibroblasts.
