Experimental inflammatory serous detachment of the retina.

Rhesus monkey eyes were studied after the development of inflammatory serous retinal detachments following internal carotid artery injection of live, yeast-phase Histoplasma capsulatum organisms. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was used as a tracer to examine the inner and outer blood-retinal barriers. The HRP was present in a decreasing gradient from the choroid into the subretinal space and was not found to have leaked from retinal vessels. The source of subretinal fluid in this model of inflammatory serous retinal detachment was leakage from the choroid through a defective outer blood-retinal barrier, induced by disruption of the retinal pigment epithelium. This model has relevance to understanding the serous retinal detachments common to diseases affecting the choroid.