Evaluation of drug treatments for proliferative vitreoretinopathy using vitreous microtensiometry.

The effectiveness of antimetabolic and anticollagen agents against proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) was assessed by vitreous microtensiometry, a new technique that measures in situ the tensile strength of vitreous membranes. Two PVR models were produced in rabbits by intravitreal injection of bovine retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) or fibroblast cells, and the animals subsequently were treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN), administered alone or in combination. The fibroblast PVR model produced high-strength membranes that did not respond significantly to these therapies. The RPE model gave lower-strength membranes that showed marginally significant decreases in strength with intravitreal 5-FU and systemic BAPN treatments. However, combination therapy showed a highly significant decrease in membrane strength and a clinically encouraging reduction in retinal detachment.