Intraocular pressure in inbred mouse strains.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a protocol to measure the intraocular pressure (IOP) of living mice and to determine the IOP of genetically different mouse strains.


METHODS
Eyes of anesthetized animals were cannulated with a very fine fluid-filled glass microneedle. The microneedle was connected to a pressure transducer, and the pressure signal was analyzed with a computer system. Intraocular pressures of male C3H/He iota, C57BL/ 6 iota, A/iota, and BALB/c iota mice were determined.


RESULTS
Differences in IOP were detected between genetically distinct mouse strains maintained in virtually identical environments. C3H/He iota was the strain with the highest average IOP (13.7 +/- 0.8 mm Hg). This strain average was 1.4 mm Hg higher than that for C57BL/6 iota (12.3 +/- 0.5 mm Hg; P = 0.14), 4.3 mm Hg higher than that for A/iota (9.4 +/- 0.5 mm Hg; P < 0.001), and 6 mm Hg higher than that for BALB/c iota (7.7 +/- 0.5 mm Hg; P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The authors have developed an accurate and reliable procedure for measuring intraocular pressure in living mice. This procedure can detect IOP differences between groups of mice that differ by genotype.
John
S W
SW
Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, USA.
Hagaman
J R
JR
MacTaggart
T E
TE
Peng
L
L
Smithes
O
O
D000818:Animals; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008805:Mice, Inbred A / Q000235:genetics*; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C / Q000235:genetics*; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H / Q000235:genetics*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL / Q000235:genetics*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular / Q000379:methods