Ultrabiomicroscopic study of the effects of brimonidine, apraclonidine, latanoprost and ibopamine on the chamber angle and ciliary body.

The authors used the Zeiss Humphrey (Mod840, 50 MHz) ultrabiomicroscope to evaluate the changes that Brimonidine, Apraclonidine, Latanoprost and Ibopamine cause in the anterior chamber and on the ciliary body of healthy subjects. The eyes of 60 volunteers, separated into 4 groups according to drug instilled, were studied and the parameters analyzed were: anterior chamber depth (ACD), pupillary diameter (PD), angle opening at 500 microns from the scleral spur (AOD500), trabecular iris angle (TIA) and iris thicknesses (ID1 and ID3). The study showed the miotic effect of Brimonidine (S) that was accompanied by an angle opening (S). Apraclonidine and Latanoprost caused no statistically significant changes in the angle or in the ciliary body. Ibopamine caused mydriasis (S). The UBM, therefore, showed itself to be useful also in the study of the mechanism of action of drugs on the angular structures and on the ciliary body.