Figure 7.

Rabbit retina after acute laser lesion. (A) Late phase FA (4 minutes after injection) of the rabbit fundus 1 hour after laser application reveals the 2 × 2 mm damage zone. This pattern started to appear 10 seconds after the fluorescence in the choroid suggesting a leakage through the blood–retinal barrier. (B) Early phase FA of the same lesion 1 week after the treatment demonstrates lighter pigmentation of the RPE inside and adjacent to the treatment zone. No changes of the image in the late phase FA suggest restoration of the blood–retinal barrier. (C) Fluorescent assay of a lesion 1 hour after laser treatment demonstrates that all RPE cells in the treatment zone are dead. (D, E) Scanning electron microscopy of the RPE 1 week after laser application demonstrates initial restoration of the RPE monolayer in the lesion by migrating cells from the untreated adjacent area (white arrow).