Morphological Changes in the Retina Under Conditions of Experimental In Vivo Regional Ischemia/Reperfusion

Two models of retinal ischemia/reperfusion were developed in an experiment on rats and structural changes in eye tissues in the early and late postischemic periods were studied. Ischemia/reperfusion was modeled by elevation of intraocular pressure to 110 mm Hg for 30 min with air injection into the anterior chamber of the eye with a special device or subconjunctival administration of 0.2 ml 4×10^–6 M endothelin-1. Morphological studies of the retina of enucleated eyes were performed in 3, 7, and 30 days after ischemia/reperfusion. In 3 days, signs of retinal ischemia were seen (retinal edema and ganglion cell damage). In the late post-ischemic period (30 days), atrophy of the outer nuclear and outer plexiform layer of the retina was observed in animals with retinal ischemia/reperfusion caused by intraocular pressure elevation and complete destruction of neuronal cells was found after administration of endothelin-1.