A guinea-pig model of corneal jellyfish envenomations

Corneal jellyfish stings are painful, self-limited injuries which usually produce conjunctival hyperemia and chemosis, corneal edema, and mild iridocyclitis with resolution in 48 hr. We have developed a guinea-pig model of corneal jellyfish stings in order to study pathogenesis of human injury. Guinea-pig eyes were exposed to sea nettle (Chrysaora quinquecirrha) venom in vivo in the following ways: contact with live tentacles, intracameral injection of crude venom, and intracorneal injection of crude jellyfish venom. Slit lamp examination and histologic sections of the eye performed at intervals up to 8 days after exposure to the venom demonstrated conjunctival hyperemia and chemosis, corneal stromal inflammatory edema, anterior chamber inflammation, and opacities on the anterior capsule of the lens. Nematocysts adherent to the corneal epithelium were noted in eyes exposed to live tentacles.