Prevention of Experimental Ocular Hypertension with Polyphloretin Phosphate.

IT is well established that certain chemical or mechanical injuries to the blood-aqueous barrier are frequently followed by the formation of a proteinrich aqueous humour and an increase in intra-ocular pressure (I.O.P.). It seems likely that in both cases the rate of aqueous formation is increased and that the capillaries of the anterior uvea and the ciliary epithelium become more permeable to proteins. In particular, damage of this kind is produced by rapid reduction of the I.O.P., as in paracentesis (Seidel, 1918; Franceschetti and Wieland, 1928; Poos, 1931; Rohen, 1953), or by the local administration of an irritant such as mustine (Davson and Quilliam, 1947; Davson and Matchett, 1953; Davson, 1956). More recently it has been shown that the permeability of serous membranes and of capillaries may be reduced by administering polyphloretin phosphate (PPP) (Fries, 1956, 1960), a synthetic anti-hyaluronidase of high molecular weight (M.W. =15,000) (Diczfalusy, Ferno, Fex, H6gberg, Linderot, and Rosenberg, 1953). This substance also diminishes the formation of serous exudates (Fries, 1956). It seemed probable that PPP would exert a similar action in eyes in which the blood-aqueous barrier had been rendered more permeable by injury and thus prevent or reduce the rise in I.O.P. which would otherwise occur. In the present series of experiments, both paracentesis and mustine hydrochloride were used to induce damage of the blood-aqueous barrier in order that the effectiveness of PPP might be assessed.