[Quantitative chemical analyses on the material gained by vitrectomy (author's transl)].

The material gained by vitrectomy from 13 eyes suffering from different pathological changes of the vitreous body was analysed in relation to the concentrations of protein, lactic acid and glycogen, and standardized by means of a special method. The concentration of protein was found to have increased in cases of intravitreal haemorrhage, shrinkage of the vitreous body after complete spontaneous resorption of intravitreal haemorrhage, and in a case of intravitreal membranes following endophthalmitis; in cases of subvitreal haemorrhage the protein content was approximately normal. The concentrations of lactic acid and glycogen were examined to find out if anaerobic glycolysis could be proved in cases of ischaemic retinopathy. Only one case showed an increased concentration of lactic acid while in three cases there was a reduced content of glycogen. In these three cases the possibility of anaerobic glycolysis could not be excluded, because in rabbits a rapid excretion rate of increased lactic acid concentrations via retinal vessels has been reported.