THE MECHANISM OF OPTIC-NERVE DAMAGE IN EXPERIMENTAL ACUTE INTRAOCULAR-PRESSURE ELEVATION

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 19  (5) , 505-517
Abstract
Intraocular pressure (IOP) elevations were produced in 32 primate eyes [Macaca fascicularis] and retinal ganglion cell rapid axonal transport was studied with autoradiography and EM. Animals breathing room air at sea level pressure were compared to animals breathing 100% O2 at 3 atm pressure in a hyperbaric chamber. Despite major increases in arterial O2 levels in the hyperbarically oxygenated animals, both groups had axonal transport blockade at the optic nerve head. Anoxia is not apparently the most important cause of acute axonal damage induced by elevated IOP. The pattern of axonal abnormality within individual fiber bundles at the optic nerve head provides support for mechanical compression as a likely alternative cause for induced neural damage.

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