Ocular dialysis. A new technique for in vivo intraocular pharmacokinetic measurements.

A new technique, using the principle of dialysis, enables continuous determination of the concentration of compounds within the vitreous humor of the eye. A semipermeable catheter inserted into the cat vitreous cavity was continuously perfused with a normal saline solution. Gentamicin concentration in the dialysate, after subconjunctival or intravitreal injection, was used to calculate gentamicin concentration in the vitreous from the catheter's recovery ratio, as calibrated in vitro. After subconjunctival injection, no gentamicin was detected in the vitreous for up to eight hours. From four to eight hours after intravitreal injection of approximately 100 micrograms of gentamicin sulfate, its vitreal concentration ranged from 30 to 80 mg/L and from nine to 16 hours it fell from 26 to 22 mg/L. This method may prove useful for the study of the pharmacokinetics of many drugs and metabolites in the eye.