Sucrose permeability of the blood-retinal and blood-brain barriers. Effects of diabetes, hypertonicity, and iodate.

The permeabilities of the blood-retinal (BRB) and blood-brain (BBB) barriers to sucrose were determined simultaneously using an intravenous injection technique in the rat. The method involved direct sampling of retinal tissue in order to avoid errors caused by sucrose penetration across other components of the blood-ocular barrier. The permeability X surface area (PS) product for the BRB was approximately four times greater than for the BBB. Intracarotid infusion of a hypertonic arabinose solution resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the permeability of both barrier systems. In contrast, 24 hr after treatment of animals with iodate, the PS product for the BRB but not the BBB was increased. The permeability of the blood-retinal barrier to sucrose was measured in normal and 2-, 6-, and 20-week streptozocin diabetic rats. The BRB was unaffected at 2 and 6 weeks of diabetes, and showed only a small increase in permeability at 20 weeks. Our results suggest that alterations in the blood-ocular barrier in early diabetes do not result from an increased passive permeability of the BRB. The method described should permit direct comparison of BRB and BBB permeabilities to a variety of compounds under various conditions.