title: Self-retaining contact lens simplifies intravitreal injection course in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to design a self-retaining rat contact lens to simplify intravitreous injection in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  A self-retaining, plane-concave prism contact lens customized for rats was designed. Forty diabetic rats were randomly divided into 2 groups and received the intravitreous injection of 10 μl of a cell suspension containing bone marrow-derived stroma cell (BMSC). Group A: used a microsyringe and a rat contact lens (n=20). Group B: used the same microsyringe and a traditional cover-slip (n=20).The duration of the intravitreous injection course and the success rate of intravitreous injection were observed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With the use of a self-retaining rat contact lens, a clear and stable view of the rat fundus was provided and the intravitreous injection course of rats quickly achieved, averaging 4.65±0.53 min in Group A and 12.33±2.79 min in Group B. The difference was statistically significant, and the time saved averaged 7.68 min. None of the Group A rats had retinal bleeding or lens injury; whereas 2 of 20 Group B rats had bleeding and 1 of 20 had lens injury. There was no significant difference between the rats in Group A and Group B.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A self-retaining rat contact lens is a potentially powerful instrument that allows high-quality observation of the rat fundus and simplifies the course of intravitreal injection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, He University, Shenyang, China (mainland).
authors.forename: Jian-Guo
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Wuhan, China (mainland).
authors.forename: He-Zheng
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Wuhan, China (mainland).
authors.forename: Yu-Xin
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, He University, Shenyang, China (mainland).
authors.forename: Yan-Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, He University, ShenYang, China (mainland).
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003261:Contact Lenses; D003315:Cornea / Q000502:physiology; D004548:Elasticity; D004867:Equipment Design; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006470:Hemorrhage; D058449:Intravitreal Injections / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013594:Syringes; D014783:Viscosity