A clinical and pathological study of inherited glaucoma in New Zealand white rabbits

The eyes of 7 rabbits with clinical megaloglobus, selected from a large colony, were studied with slit-lamp microscopy, gonioscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy and tonometry. Selected light and scanning electron microscopy was also performed. There were 11 glaucomatous eyes among the 7 rabbits: gonioscopy demonstrated open iridocorneal angles with absence of pectinate fibres. Incomplete cleavage of the iridocorneal angles in glaucomatous eyes was noted histologically. Because of the similarity of the iridocorneal angles of glaucomatous rabbit eyes with those of human eyes with congenital glaucoma, these rabbits may serve as an experimental model in the understanding and management of certain types of human glaucoma.