Experimental double-perforating injury of the posterior segment in rabbit eyes: the natural history of intraocular proliferation.

A reproducible model of double perforating injury of the posterior segment of the rabbit eye was developed. Immediately after injury, a viterous condensation was visible between wounds. The scleral exit wound was sealed by fibroblastic proliferation of probable episcleral origin by the fourth day and the entrance similarly by the seventh day. Cellular proliferations originating in the wounds crossed the vitreous cavity following the vitreous injury tract or condensed vitreous to the disc or to the vitreous base. The earliest intraocular proliferations, composed of spindle-shaped, fibroblast-like cells, were seen at day 4. Occasional pigment epithelia were present in and on these proliferations. Other proliferations occurred directly on the retinal surface adjacent to the wounds. The transvitreous proliferations employed the vitreous as a scaffold, while the surface proliferations used the retinal surface for contact guidance.