title: [A specular microscopic study on irradiated rabbit corneas--report I. Early injury of the cornea].
abstract: To evaluate the effects of ionizing radiation on the cornea, one eye of healthy mature albino rabbits (n = 5) was irradiated with 20 Gy of X-rays (250 kV, 12 mA). Corneal observation was done with a slit-lamp biomicroscope and a specular microscope before irradiation, and follow-up observations were done at one week and 4 weeks after irradiation. Specular microscopic photographs were analyzed with a digitizer. Although slit-lamp biomicroscopy did not show any abnormal findings in the cornea, specular microscopy revealed a significant enlargement of the mean cell area of the superficial corneal epithelium at 4 weeks after irradiation. There were no significant changes in the corneal endothelium during this study. These results strongly suggest that high doses of X-ray irradiation could induce corneal epithelial injury at the early phase, even when by slit-lamp biomicroscopy shows no abnormal findings in the cornea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tsukuba Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kiuchi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tatsuzaki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takei
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hommura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000473:pathology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000166:cytology; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D008853:Microscopy; D011817:Rabbits; D011833:Radiation Injuries, Experimental / Q000473:pathology*; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing