Alkali Burns of the Rabbit Cornea. Corneal Uptake of ¹⁴C-Glucose Injected into the Anterior Chamber

Abstract

An experimental alkali burn was produced in rabbits dropping 1 N NaOH on the proptosed eye. At intervals of 1 h–9 days after injury, the ¹⁴C-glucose was injected into the anterior chamber and 1 h later, the animals were sacrificed and the radioactivities of aqueous and corneas were measured. The results showed a progressive increase in the retained radioactivity of the aqueous, probably due to decreased outflow, and relatively decreased uptake of glucose in the alkali-burned corneas. A similar pattern of low-degree changes was observed also on the contralateral eyes of the injured animals, thus suggesting that caution is necessary when using the untreated eye as a control in metabolic experiments performed in vivo.