An Open-Globe Porcine Injury Platform for Assessing Therapeutics and Characterizing Biological Effects

Open-globe injuries can result in permanent vision loss, partly due to extended delays between injury and medical intervention. Even with early intervention, the management of open-globe injuries remains a challenge for ophthalmologists, mostly due to inadequate or suboptimal current therapies. To aid in the development of novel therapeutics and track toxicological and pathophysiological changes, this article details an open-globe injury platform capable of inducing injuries in enucleated porcine eyes. The injury platform relies on a high-speed solenoid device to mimic explosive injury scenarios, allowing for large, complex injury shapes and sizes that are often observed in casualties and are more difficult to treat. The system can be implemented with precise computer control of the injury mechanism to allow for more complex setups. Also, the system can make use of real-time intraocular pressure measurement to track changes during injury induction and to assess therapeutic efficacy for restoring intraocular pressure and the integrity of the eye. These protocols will assist with implementation of the injury model in prospective laboratories seeking to develop therapeutics or studying biological changes that occur from this type of traumatic injury. Published 2020. U.S. Government.

Basic Protocol 1: Preparing gelatin molds and porcine eye tissue

Basic Protocol 2: Creating an open-globe injury using a solenoid device

Alternate Protocol 1: Constructing a computer-controlled system for open-globe injury

Alternate Protocol 2: Constructing a pressure measurement system for tracking intraocular pressure

Support Protocol 1: Assessing ocular compliance in porcine eyes

Support Protocol 2: Assessing outflow rate from the anterior chamber

Support Protocol 3: Assessing burst pressure in porcine eyes