Subconjunctival suspension of RU486 lowers intraocular pressure in normal rabbits

RU486 is both a progesterone blocker and a corticosteroid blocker (peripheral). Subconjunctival injections of 0.2 ml of a 1% suspension of RU486 powder (2 mg) were given twice weekly to one eye chosen at random of 12 rabbits. The fellow eye received the same volume, 0.2 ml, of vehicle (normal saline) only. Ocular tension was measured twice daily for six days per week by an Alcon pneumatonograph, the tonometrist(s) being unaware of which eyes were treated and which untreated. A small but significant reduction in intraocular pressure, about 0.7 mmHg, occurred in treated eyes. No intereye difference in the ocular hypertensive response to intraperitoneal injections of distilled water (50 ml/kg) was found. Clinical trials are planned in which a larger fall is expected because the trabecular meshwork in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension is presumably more affected by (normal) tissue levels of corticosteroid.