Optic nerve transection and intraocular pressure response to various drugs.

Base-line intraocular pressure was similar in the rabbit eye ivith a transected optic nerve and the opposite eye subjected to a sham operation. Hyperosmotic oral ethanol, at doses of 1.5 to 2.0 ml. per kilogram, lowered intraoctdar pressure significantly less in eyes with transected optic nerves than in their fellow eyes with intact optic nerves. Smaller doses of ethanol (0.75 ml. per kilogram) decreased intraocular pressure only in sham-operated eyes. Topically applied pilocarpine or epinephrine hydrochloride produced no difference between the intraocular pressures of the two eyes. Intravenous acetazolamide lowered intraocidar pressure symmetrically in eyes with both intact and transected optic nerves.