Surgical Model of Ocular Hypertension in Rats

A surgical model of ocular hypertension was induced in the right eye (RE) of each rat by cauterization of three episcleral veins after conjunctival dissection under general anesthesia—intraperitoneal injection of Ketamine 1000^® 100 mg/kg (Virbac, Vauvert, France) and Xylazine 10 mg/kg (Bayer HealthCare, Whippany, NJ, USA)—as reported elsewhere [19 (link)]. The left eye (LE) underwent conjunctival dissection only as a control. After surgery, IOP was monitored every 5 or 6 days using a handheld tonometer (TonoLab^®; Medtronics, Jacksonville, FL, USA) without sedation. Animals presenting low or unstable IOP during a 21-day period after the surgery were excluded. Animals were treated 21 days after the surgery and IOP was monitored every 3–4 days for 24 other days in a blind manner.