A Hypertonic Saline Injection Technique for Inducing Glaucoma in Rats

Take an anesthetized rat and apply an anesthetic to its eye to numb reflexes.

Trim whiskers and disinfect the area around the eye to prevent contamination.

Under a microscope, clamp the lower eyelid to bulge the eye, exposing the episcleral vein.

This vein connects to the anterior chamber via Schlemm's canal and trabecular meshwork for the outflow of aqueous humor.

Insert a microneedle with hypertonic saline into the exposed vein.

Inject the saline, displacing blood. Perform a second injection opposite the first for a uniform effect across the eye.

The saline enters the trabecular meshwork.

The high salt concentration causes osmotic stress, leading to cell death and tissue scarring. This scarring blocks aqueous humor outflow through the meshwork, increasing intraocular pressure.

The elevated pressure damages the retinal ganglion cells, which are neurons carrying visual information to the brain. The damage leads to glaucoma, a condition that causes vision loss.