Role of body temperature in the definition of retinal burn threshold.

Young adult rhesus monkeys were anesthetized with a barbiturate which dislocates the normal thermoregulatory mechanism. The core temperature was then controlled by a heating pad, and the chorioretinal burn threshold was determined for different temperatures with the use of light from a Zeiss photocoagulator. The results show linear relationships between the threshold retinal irradiances and body temperature for two different sets of exposure parameters. Extrapolation of the two sets of data provides an estimate of the critical temperature for production of the threshold chorioretinal lesion. The roles of body temperature and certain exposure parameters in the production of retinal damage are discussed.