A light microscopic, autoradiographic study of axoplasmic transport in the optic nerve head during ocular hypotony, increased intraocular pressure, and papilledema.

Cyclocryotherapy of the monkey eye reliably produces transient increased intraocular pressure followed by prolonged hypotony, during which papilledema occurs. Axoplasmic transport was studied while the intraocular pressure was both increased and decreased after cyclocryotherapy by autoradiography following the intravitreal injection of tritiated leucine and proline. Surgical fistulization of the anterior chamber was also used to produce hypotony and papilledema. Significant alterations of both the rapid and the slow components of axoplasmic transport were demonstrated in the nerve head during increased intraocular pressure, and in ocular hypotony with papilledema.