Band Keratopathy in a Rabbit Colony.

A high incidence of band keratopathy was observed in a rabbit colony being utilized in uveitis experiments. Unrelated to the uveitis, the animals had developed, in addition to the corneal lesions, deposits of calcium in the kidneys, arterial tree, trachea, and smooth muscle of the intestine suggestive of hypercalcemia due to an accidental hypervitaminosis D. The clinical and histopathologic characteristics of band keratopathy in these rabbits proved to be quite similar to those observed in vian. Band keratopathy has never been observed in rabbits with uveitis alone. Even in the presence of a disease characterized by widespread metastatic calcification in the visceral organs, band keratopathy was virtually restricted to the eyes in which uveitis had been produced. There even appeared to be some positive correlation between the incidence of band keratopathy and the severity of the uveal inflammation. Thus, it would appear that the pathogenesis of band keratopathy in the rabbit may be dependent on the concomitant contributions of both hypercalcemia and uveitis.