PRECLINICAL INVESTIGATION OF INTERNAL LIMITING MEMBRANE STAINING AND PEELING USING INTRAVITREAL BRILLIANT BLUE G :

Removal of internal limiting membranes (ILMs) is a potentially useful surgical approach to close an idiopathic macular hole. However, the removal of ILMs is difficult to perform because of poor visibility of the ILMs. We have developed a technique for staining the ILM with a solution of indocyanine green to facilitate the removal of ILMs in eyes with an idiopathic macular hole. Thirteen eyes of 13 patients (8 women and 5 men, aged from 54 to 68 years) with idiopathical macular hole stage 3 or stage 4 that underwent removal of ILMs using this technique had an anatomical closure rate of 92% and an improvement of visual acuity of 89% (>/=2 Snellen letter chart lines). The excised specimens were evaluated using transmission electron microscopy. Our results show that this technique is safe and useful in visualizing the ILM, leading to the performance of successful removal of an ILM with least damage to the retina. Arch Ophthalmol. 2000;118:1116-1118

Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) is a novel mediator in apoptosis. AIF is a flavoprotein that is normally confined to the mitochondrial intermembrane space, yet translocates to the nucleus in several in vitro models of apoptosis. To investigate the role of AIF in the apoptotic process in vivo, we induced retinal detachment (RD) by subretinal injection of sodium hyaluronate, either in Brown Norway rats or in C3H mice. Apoptotic DNA fragmentation, as determined by terminal nick-end labeling, was most prominent 3 days after RD. The subcellular localization of AIF was examined by immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. In normal photoreceptor cells, AIF was present in the mitochondrion-rich inner segment. However, AIF was found in the nucleus after RD. Photoreceptor apoptosis developed similarly in C3H control mice, and in mice bearing the gld or lpr mutations, indicating that cell death occurs independently from the CD95/CD95 ligand system. Both the mitochondrio-nuclear transition of AIF localization and the nuclear DNA fragmentation were inhibited by subretinal application of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. To our knowledge, this is the first description of AIF relocalization occurring in a clinically relevant, in vivo model of apoptosis.

To determine whether trypan blue staining facilitates epiretinal membrane (ERM) removal in proliferative vitreoretinopathy.