EFFECT OF INTRAOCULAR IRRIGATING SOLUTIONS ON THE VIABILITY OF CULTURED RETINAL VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL-CELLS

Purpose. To compare the abilities of balanced salt solution, BSS Plus and Hartmann's lactated Ringer's (HLR) solution to maintain the viabil ity of retinal vascular endothelial cells (RVEC) in vitro. Methods. Cu ltured retinal vascular endothelial cells were suspended in each irrig ating solution for four hours. Viability was determined by trypan blue exclusion at 30 minute intervals. Regression analysis was used to det ermine the rate of viability loss. Additional studies were performed t o determine the effectiveness of lactate in maintaining cell viability . Results. Retinal vascular endothelial cells lost viability at a grea ter rate (p < 0.001) in BSS (8.7%/hr) compared with BSS Plus (3.3%/hr) . Cells in Hartmann's lactated Ringer's lost viability at a significan tly lower rate (4.4%/hr) than retinal vascular endothelial cells in la ctate-free Hartmann's lactated Ringer's solution (8.4%/hr). Lactate wa s as effective as glucose in pre serving RVEC viability. By comparison , the viability of corneal endothelial cells was not effectively maint ained by lactate. For these cells, BSS Plus was clearly superior to Ha rtmann's lactated Ringer's solution in maintaining viability. Conclusi ons. BSS Plus and Hartmann's lactated Ringer's solution are both super ior to balanced salt solution in maintaining retinal vascular endothel ial cell viability. For retinal vascular endothelial cells, Hartmann's lactated Ringer's solution preserves cell viability as well as BSS Pl us, since the retinal vascular endothelial cells, unlike corneal endot helial cells, can apparently utilize lactate as an energy source.