Polygeline as a Vitreous Substitute

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Abstract
Various materials have been used in retinal detachment surgery as a substitute for vitreous, such as isotonic salt solution, Ringer solution, air, liquor cerebrospinalis, human vitreous, and hyaluronic acid.1-3Lately, synthetic materials chemically quite different from vitreous components have been used, such as silicone fluid,4-13povidone (polyvinylpyrrolidone),14and various other substitutes.15 The present paper deals with the experimental substitution of rabbit vitreous by polygeline (Haemaccel, Great Britain and Germany), a colloidal plasma volume expander, which is used to replenish the blood volume in patients suffering from shock due to loss of blood. Polygeline is synthesized from polypeptides obtained by thermic breakdown of gelatin which are cross-linked by urea bridges to a polymer with a molecular weight of approximately 35,000. The effect of plasma volume expansion after intravenous infusion is due to the colloidosmotic pressure, the 3.5% solution being slightly hyperoncotic as compared with serum. We tried