Experimental scar membranes in the rabbit's vitreous. An autoradiographic and quantitative morphological study.

A morphological and autoradiographic assessment was made of scar tissue development in an experimental rabbit model of proliferative vitreoretinopathy which involves the intravitreal injection of cultured autologous skin fibroblasts. Within a few hours after injection as many as 40% of the cultured cells had autolysed. However, the remaining cells proliferated and formed membranes. The incorporation of [3H] thymidine was maximal at 1 week. Between 2 and 4 weeks spindle-shaped myofibroblasts were prominent, and this form of fibroblast has been considered to have an important role in scar tissue contraction. At the end of 4 weeks it was noted that all eyes had developed retinal detachments. Subsequently the membranes became progressively more fibrous and lipid-like material accumulated in the cytoplasm of many cells. The findings were discussed in relation to the use of this model to test the effectiveness of various drugs which may be of value in the treatment of proliferative vitreoretinopathy.