Chapter 13 - The Rabbit in Cataract/IOL Surgery

Abstract

The rabbit is similar to man in its response to lens/cataract surgery. Because the rabbit eye is relatively large, it has proved useful for the assessment of both new technologies and ophthalmic surgical procedures. For example, the rabbit eye model has proved useful in the assessment of new technologies for removal of the natural crystalline lens/cataract such as surgical blades, phacoemulsification systems, intraocular lenses (IOLs), IOL insertion systems, ocular irrigating solutions, ophthalmic viscosurgical devices, and other novel technologies. Currently, it is one of the accepted animal models for evaluating the biocompatibility of IOLs. The rabbit eye model has also been used in the evaluation of ophthalmic surgical procedures, including corneal transplantation, corneal inlays and onlays, evaluation of microkeratomes and laser refractive procedures, trabeculectomy, glaucoma shunts, and endocyclophoto-coagulation, vitrectomy, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, and intravitreal drug delivery. Rabbits acquired from animal research sources are generally between 6 and 12 weeks of age. Because the rabbit eye and lens grow with increasing age and weight, with an age-related reduction in postoperative inflammatory response, animals of differing age and weights are used in different types of evaluations. Specifically, younger rabbits tend to have a greater postoperative inflammatory response, which is greater than that observed in adult human eyes and characterized by a heavy fibrin reaction.