Vascular changes in the posterior segment in clinical and experimental ocular inflammatory disease

Posterior segment inflammatory disease can have several different effects on the retinal vasculature, all of which have potentially sight threatening consequences. Blood-retinal barrier breakdown is a common feature of the disease process with resulting retinal and macula oedema. Very little is known about the mechanism of this breakdown and in particular whether it is at the endothelial cell membrane or at the tight junctions between the endothelial cells--a matter of importance if better therapeutic regimes are to be devised in the future. This paper looks at this question in two animal models of posterior uveitis using different techniques.