Filtering procedures remain the most popular surgical option for controlling intraocular pressure (IOP) in medically refractory glaucoma. Incorporation of adjunctive anti fibrotic treatment has enhanced IOP control and prolonged filtering efficacy [1-3], but for various reasons some blebs are prone to failure many months or years later. Sometimes that failure may take the form of hyperfiltratio...

Large blebs form rapidly on apical membranes of sensory inner hair cells (IHCs) when the organ of Corti is freshly isolated from adult guinea pigs. Bleb formation had two distinguishable phases. Initially, we identified small particles labeled with fluorescent annexin V; these rapidly coalesced into larger aggregates. After particle aggregation, a single membrane bleb emerged from cuticular pla...

PURPOSE To compare bleb survival and histology after implantation of the EX-PRESS™ glaucoma filtration device versus silicone tubes in a rabbit model of filtration surgery. METHODS Glaucoma filtration surgery was performed on one eye each of twelve New Zealand white rabbits. Eyes were randomized to implantation with the EX-PRESS™ filtration device (n=6) or a silicone tube (n=6). Bleb vascular...

Microbiopsies of human skeletal muscle are increasingly adopted by physiologists for a variety of experimental assays given the reduced invasiveness of this procedure compared to the classic Bergstrom percutaneous biopsy technique. However, a recent report demonstrated lower mitochondrial respiration in saponin-permeabilized muscle fiber bundles (PmFB) prepared from microbiopsies vs. Bergstrom ...

If the plasma membrane of a cell is able to delaminate locally from its actin cortex, a cellular bleb can be produced. Blebs are pressure-driven protrusions, which are noteworthy for their ability to produce cellular motion. Starting from a general continuum mechanics description, we restrict ourselves to considering cell and bleb shapes that maintain approximately spherical forms. From this as...

PURPOSE To report corneal lamellar grafting to repair the late-onset complications after MMC trabeculectomy. METHODS Multiple case reports. RESULTS A 76-year-old male with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and a 55-year-old male with late developmental glaucoma complicated by bleb leaks from a microhole 10 and eight years after surgery, respectively. Severe ciliochoroidal detachment and a ...

When suction was applied to loose patch clamp pipettes while recording from enzymatically dissociated muscle fibers, large membrane blebs formed within the pipettes. We initiated a study of these suction-induced blebs because ion channels in the blebs would complicate or possibly invalidate loose patch voltage clamp measurements of membrane current density. The low lateral mobility (Stühmer and...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of [Met5] enkephalin, termed opioid growth factor (OGF), as an anti-fibrotic agent in an effort to maximize the time interval before glaucoma-filtering surgical failure. OGF was sterilely prepared in a biocompatible polymer, hydroxymethyl methacrylate (Hydron) and surgically implanted sub-tenon’s capsule at the time of a “full thickness” filtration ...

BACKGROUND In patients with severe optic nerve damage, it is crucial to prevent the hypertensive phase that can develop after Baerveldt glaucoma drainage implant (BGI) surgery. We describe the combination of BGI surgery with surgical bleb revision to prevent the postoperative hypertensive phase. CASE REPORTS We report two patients who underwent BGI surgery combined with surgical bleb revision...