Newly-formed subretinal vessels. Fine structure and fluorescein leakage.

The ultrastructure of experimentally induced newly formed subretinal vessels was correlated with the amount of fluorescein leakage demonstrated by the neovascular membranes during angiography. The membranes that demonstrated leakage contained subretinal vessels with a fenestrated endothelial wall and intermediate interendothelial cell junctions. As these subretinal plexi matured, they stopped demonstrating leakage. This involution process was accompanied by the formation of focal interendothelial tight junctions; however, loss of fenestrations was not observed. The membranes that never demonstrated fluorescein leakage also contained fenestrated subretinal vessels at both early and late stages of development; and their interendothelial junctions showed similar maturation from open to focal tight junctions. Thus all subretinal vessels had "leaky" morphology strongly resembling that of the normal choriocapillaris, whether they demonstrated fluorescein leakage or not. The authors conclude that newly formed subretinal vessels retain the characteristics of the choriocapillaris from which they are believed to proliferate; they have the potential to leak fluorescein at all stages of their development. The absence of fluorescein leakage during angiography cannot always be correlated with the absence of "leaky" morphology.