Comparative studies of corneal surface injury in the monkey and rabbit
L. W. Hirst, K. R. Kenyon, J. A. Fogle, L. Hanninen and W. J. Stark
This animal study of corneal surface injury using acid, alkali n-heptanol,
iodine, keratectomy, or scraping, despite morphologic differences from the
human, simulated the human response to these forms of trauma. The rabbit
and monkey thus remain useful models for the study of the effects of
chemical and physical injury on the corneal surface. Although abnormalities
in the basement membrane complex seem to play an important role in corneal
epithelial adhesion problems, the presence of a poor substratum on which
adhesion complexes must in turn rely for their stromal attachment is also
an important factor.
