The chemoattractant activity of the vitreous to human scleral fibroblasts following retinal detachment and proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

The results are presented of a migration assay of scleral fibroblasts to 25% diluted vitreous samples from 27 patients with complex retinal detachments divided into three groups: group 1, no proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR); group 2, early PVR; and group 3, advanced PVR. There was a statistically significantly greater migration with vitreous samples from group 3 than with group 1 (p less than 0.0001) but no significant correlation for migration with the age of patients, duration of retinal detachment, or number of retinal procedures undertaken. Analysis of vitreous by gel electrophoresis showed that cellular migration was proportional to the number of peptide bands. Vitreous fibronectin levels were measured and there was a positive correlation between fibronectin in the vitreous samples and the migration of fibroblasts to the vitreous (r = 0.68, p less than 0.004).