A novel, local technique for studying rabbit lacrimal gland secretion in situ.

AIM: To develop a local approach to study rabbit lacrimal secretion in situ by administering specific secretagogues directly onto the lacrimal gland (LG).

METHODS

After the rabbit has been anesthetized, the inferior bulbar conjunctiva and underlying connective tissue are blunt dissected. A polyethylene tube, for drug delivery, is inserted through the fibrous membrane overlying the inferior surface of the orbital cavity beneath which the LG resides. Lacrimal fluid is collected by cannulating the lacrimal duct.

RESULTS

Pilocarpine induced robust lacrimal fluid secretion from the LG that had been bathed with either pilocarpine or phenylephrine, with no detectable effect on the contralateral LG and salivary secretion. By next giving pilocarpine or phenylephrine to the control LG while the experimental gland used before served as control, we duplicated the results exactly.

CONCLUSION

This novel approach avoids the unwanted systemic effects of intravenous injection and is a promising technique to study rabbit LG secretion in situ.