[Effects of gaseous flow containing nitric oxide on the eyeball structures (an experimental study)]

Nitric oxide is one of the main factors of intra- and intercellular regulation in the organism. Its vasodilating, antiaggregant, antithrombogenic, antibacterial, anticarcinogenic, and immunogenic effects are well known. It stimulates the reparative processes in soft tissue injuries. We failed to find reports about the role of NO in the wound process in the eyes. The source of NO in our experiments was medical air-plasma device Plason. Exposure of the eye to NO-containing gaseous flow did not cause changes in the lacrimal pH; NO penetrated through the cornea and sclera, exerted no appreciable cytotoxic effect on the surface epithelium of the eye, did not change the intraocular pressure, and caused no morphological changes in ocular tissues. On the other hand, NO-containing gaseous flow had an appreciable lasting effect on the diameter of the conjunctival vessels, this effect being dose-dependent. The doses of NO-containing gaseous flow which can be used in the treatment of eye wounds were determined.