Age-related changes of intraocular pressure in Dutch belted rabbits

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 12065
• Main Authors: Shin, Young In, Kim, Young Kook, Jeoung, Jin Wook, Park, Ki Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27.05.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/601/1737; 692/699/3161/3169; Age; Aging - physiology; Animals; Correlation coefficient; Dutch belted rabbits; Glaucoma; Humanities and Social Sciences; Intraocular pressure; Intraocular Pressure - physiology; Male; multidisciplinary; Ophthalmic tests; Ophthalmology; Rabbits; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tonometry; Tonometry, Ocular - methods; Glaucoma; Tonometry; Ophthalmology; Ophthalmic tests; Dutch belted rabbits; Intraocular pressure
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62097-w

This study investigated intraocular pressure (IOP) in Dutch belted rabbits using two different tonometers, rebound tonometry (TonoVet Plus; TVP) and a Tonopen (Tono-Pen AVIA Vet; TPA). Post-pubescent male Dutch belted rabbits aged 36 weeks (n = 10 animals) were used in the study. IOP measurements were conducted every 2 weeks for 22 weeks using TVP and TPA on both eyes of each rabbit. The average IOP measurements were compared by the paired Student’s t-test. Pairwise Pearson’s correlation coefficients and Bland–Altman statistics were used. The overall mean IOP measured with TPA was significantly higher than that with TVP (23.5 ± 4.9 vs. 21.8 ± 2.4 mmHg for the right eyes; P  = 0.045, and 23.0 ± 4.7 vs. 21.5 ± 2.4 mmHg for the left eyes; P  = 0.047). Both tonometers tended to show increased IOP readings with age, and positive correlations between IOP and age were observed with both TPA (r = 0.95, P  < 0.001 for right eyes; r = 0.95, P  < 0.001 for left eyes) and TVP (r = 0.91, P  < 0.001 for right eyes; r = 0.64, P = 0.024 for left eyes). The average bias calculated by subtracting TPA from TVP was − 1.60 (95% confidence intervals − 1.927, − 1.281) mmHg. IOP in post-pubescent Dutch belted rabbits tended to increase with age throughout the 22 week study.