title: Ciliary Tissue Transplantation in the Rabbit Eye: Does the Localization of the Graft Affect Survival?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether ciliary body transplantation is applicable, the graft is viable and the localization of the graft material affects graft survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen female New Zealand white rabbits were used. Three of them were used as donors, and a ciliary body graft was prepared from their enucleated eyes. There are two groups in the study according to the localization of the ciliary body graft in the anterior chamber. The graft was placed on the iris surface close to the pupil margin in group 1 and adjacent to the anterior chamber angle in group 2. Immunosuppressive treatment with cyclosporine A was given to the rabbits of both groups. The rabbits were sacrificed 1 month after ciliary transplantation, and their eyes were enucleated. After fixation, the graft and the surrounding tissue were examined by a pathologist macroscopically and microscopically with hematoxylin and eosin staining.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One month after the transplantation, the treated eyes remained inflammation free, and the transplants seemed to be viable with evident vascularization and without hemorrhage and necrotic tissue. When we compared groups 1 and 2, there were no statistically significant differences in the histopathological findings between the groups. The grafts were found to be similar with normal ciliary tissue in regard to necrosis, hemorrhage and fibrosis, and there were no statistically significant differences in inflammatory cell density and in the epithelial cell morphology between the normal ciliary tissue and the grafts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Transplantation of allograft ciliary tissue either onto the surface of the iris or the anterior chamber angle under immunosuppression could be an effective treatment for chronic ocular hypotony.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kızılcaham State Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hülya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yazıcı
authors.forename: Gökhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gürelik
authors.forename: Fulya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yaylacıoğlu Tuncay
authors.forename: Pınar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Uyar Göçün
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002924:Ciliary Body / Q000637:transplantation*; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007498:Iris / Q000601:surgery*; D015814:Ocular Hypotension / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011817:Rabbits; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine