SCIENTIFIC REPORT

Histopathological analysis in experimental macular surgery with trypan blue

S Grisanti¹, P Szurman¹, O Tatar¹, F Gelisken¹, S Aisenbrey², J Oficjalska-Mlynczak³, R Kaczmarek¹ and K U Bartz-Schmidt¹

¹ Department of Ophthalmology I, Eberhard-Karls University Tuebingen, Germany
² Department of Neuroscience, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
³ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Wroclaw, Poland

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Assistant professor S Grisanti
Department of Ophthalmology I, Eberhard-Karls University of Tuebingen, Schleichstrasse 12–15, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; salvatore.grisanti{at}med.uni-tuebingen.de

Aim: To analyse the effect of trypan blue on the retina in an experimental setting of macular surgery.

Methods: Porcine eyes were used within 3 hours after death. The eyes were hemisected and the vitreous removed. Trypan blue (0.15%) was applied over the trephined posterior pole, whereas the rest of the eye cup was filled with a balanced salt solution (BSS). The dye and the BSS were removed after 1 minute and the complete eye cup irrigated and filled with fresh BSS. Both the treated and untreated retinas were illuminated with a standard surgical light pipe and source at maximum power for 10 minutes. Both the trypan blue exposed retina and the non-treated surrounding retina were processed for histology.

Results: Exposure of the retina to trypan blue for 1 minute, followed by illumination caused no histologically detectable damage compared to the controls. No microarchitectural disorganisation, cellular disruption, or affection of the vitreoretinal interface was detected.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that a 1 minute exposure of trypan blue followed by illumination does not cause an acute morphologically detectable toxic effect on the porcine retina.

Abbreviations: BSS, balanced salt solution; ERM, epiretinal membrane; ILM, internal limiting membrane

Keywords: trypan blue; vital dye staining; macular surgery; internal limiting membrane; epiretinal membranes

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