Penetration of amikacin into the aphakic eye.

An experiment was designed to see if an aminoglycoside antibiotic, amikacin, would penetrate the vitreous of rabbits in greater concentrations in the postoperative aphakic eye than in the normal eye. Phakic and aphakic eyes were treated with amikacin by topical, subconjunctival, and intramuscular methods separately and combined. Bioassays of aqueous, anterior vitreous, and posterior vitreous revealed that concentrations of amikacin in ocular fluids after intramuscular administration were greater in the aphakic eye as compared to the normal eye; however, concentrations in the vitreous did not reach reliably bactericidal concentrations even when all three methods of administration were combined.