The National Eye Institute has reported that Diabetic Retinopathy is a major cause of blindness. Due to the prevalence of this disease, NEI's program objective for the next 5 years includes the development of better methods of prevention and therapy of diabetic retinopathy. It is this project's long term objective to develop a non-invasive, trans-pupillary photodisruption laser system to perform safe and effective vitreolysis for the prevention and treatment of diabetic retinopathy. The specific objectives include: 1. Develop and optimize a trans-pupillary femtosecond laser delivery system to perform vitreolysis in rabbit eyes. 2. Measure development, growth and complications in rabbit eyes after core vitreolysis and lysis of cortical vitreous adjacent to the retina. 3. Determine the efficacy of laser vitreolysis-induced PVD in inhibiting hemorrhage and tractional retinal detachment in a VEGF-BFGF growth factor-induced model of vitreoretinal angiogenesis. The laser delivery system and laser parameter optimization will be tested on animal cadaver eyes. Paired sample live-animal experiments will be performed to assess the safety and efficacy of the developed procedure.
