Coats' disease: A study of cholesterol transport in the eye.

An attempt to establish an animal model (rabbit) to study deposition and transport of cholesterol in the eye has been described. Interesting findings include the deposition of cholesterol in the choroid, sclera, and anterior cornea of rabbits fed on a high cholesterol diet. Injected intravitreal cholesterol is seen to leave through the retina, optic nerve head, and the trabecular meshwork. This process appears to be very slow. During the 4 months of observation the yellow preretinal deposits decreased little in size. Only 1 rabbit showed a picture typical of Coats' disease with serous detachment of the retina, subretinal lipoidal deposits and preretinal neovascularization. Although these results are preliminary, they suggest that fatty materials may pass through the retina into the subretinal space from the vitreous and might explain the pathogenesis of Coats' disease in the human.