Effect of Intraocular Pressure on Ocular Vessels

Abstract

The effect of intraocular pressure on blood flow in the ocular vessels of the owl monkey was assessed by injecting India ink into the circulatory system and examining its distribution in the vascular bed of the eye. When the intraocular pressure of the experimental eye exceeded 30 mm Hg, there was significantly less India ink in the retinal, choroidal, and optic-nerve vessels than in the control eye (15 mm Hg). The absence of ink in the capillaries of the optic nerve was greater on the temporal side. The results supported the hypothesis that the cavernous degeneration seen in monkeys with enzyme-induced acute glaucoma was secondary to the ischemia produced by the transmission of the high intraocular pressure through the tissues of the optic nerve to collapse the capillaries.