Surgical removal of vitreous. Its effect on intraocular fibroblast proliferation in the rabbit.

The effect of surgical removal of vitreous on intraocular fibroblast proliferation was studied in an animal model. Forty-eight young adult pigmented rabbits were vitrectomized; four groups of eight animals subsequently received intravitreal injection of tissue-cultured rabbit dermal fibroblasts in doses of 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, and 750,000 cells. As controls, eight vitrectomized rabbits received intravitreal culture medium alone, and the remaining eight vitrectomized rabbits were left uninjected. An additional 40 normal rabbits received the same injections of the same four doses and served as nonvitrectomized controls. All animals were observed for 28 days after injection. The results were dose related and showed that vitrectomy aggravated intraocular fibroblast proliferation in that traction retinal detachment occurred earlier and was more severe in the vitrectomized than in the nonvitrectomized controls.