Artículos de revistas
Vitreous pharmacokinetics and electroretinographic findings after intravitreal injection of acyclovir in rabbits
Fecha
2012Registro en:
CLINICS, SAO PAULO, v. 67, n. 8, supl. 1, Part 1, pp. 931-937, FEB, 2012
1807-5932
10.6061/clinics/2012(08)13
Autor
Damico, Francisco Max
Scolari, Mariana Ramos
Ioshimoto, Gabriela Lourencon
Takahashi, Beatriz Sayuri
Cunha, Armando da Silva, Jr.
Fialho, Silvia Ligorio
Bonci, Daniela Maria
Gasparin, Fabio
Ventura, Dora Fix
Institución
Resumen
OBJECTIVES: Acute retinal necrosis is a rapidly progressive and devastating viral retinitis caused by the herpesvirus family. Systemic acyclovir is the treatment of choice; however, the progression of retinal lesions ceases approximately 2 days after treatment initiation. An intravitreal injection of acyclovir may be used an adjuvant therapy during the first 2 days of treatment when systemically administered acyclovir has not reached therapeutic levels in the retina. The aims of this study were to determine the pharmacokinetic profile of acyclovir in the rabbit vitreous after intravitreal injection and the functional effects of acyclovir in the rabbit retina. METHODS: Acyclovir (Acyclovir; Bedford Laboratories, Bedford, OH, USA) 1 mg in 0.1 mL was injected into the right eye vitreous of 32 New Zealand white rabbits, and 0.1 mL sterile saline solution was injected into the left eye as a control. The animals were sacrificed after 2, 9, 14, or 28 days. The eyes were enucleated, and the vitreous was removed. The half-life of acyclovir was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. Electroretinograms were recorded on days 2, 9, 14, and 28 in the eight animals that were sacrificed 28 days after injection according to a modified protocol of the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision. RESULTS: Acyclovir rapidly decayed in the vitreous within the first two days after treatment and remained at low levels from day 9 onward. The eyes that were injected with acyclovir did not present any electroretinographic changes compared with the control eyes. CONCLUSIONS: The vitreous half-life of acyclovir is short, and the electrophysiological findings suggest that the intravitreal delivery of 1 mg acyclovir is safe and well tolerated by the rabbit retina.