Controlled vascular corrosion casting of the rabbit eye.

We have refined the technique of vascular corrosion casting with methacrylate to permit the reproduction of physiological states of vascular tone and to produce sturdy castings of ocular microvasculature. The method entails careful maintenance of homeostasis up to the moment of plastic perfusion, avoidance of vascular rinsing or fixation with the attendant anoxia, reduction of the viscosity of the casting resin without impairing the properties of the resultant polymer, addition of a cross-linking agent to increase the strength of the plastic, and injection at physiological temperature and pressure. This casting regimen reproduces the normal anatomical conditions of blood vessels and can be used to demonstrate altered conditions of vascular tone. In all instances, the second, untouched eye serves as a control for unilateral manipulations. Special problems of replicating the ocular vasculature are related to the intraocular pressure, which opposes the vascular perfusion pressure and constitutes an impediment to perfusion.