Experiment 1: Effect of drugs on rabbit eye

Objective
To find out the effects of drugs on the rabbit eye with regard to

Light reflex
Corneal reflex
Size of pupils
Intraocular pressure

Requirement

ExPharmPro

Chemicals

Normal saline 0.9%

Pilocarpine 1%
Lignocaine 1%
Atropine 1%

Materials

Rabbit
Rabbit holder
Dropper
Torch
Cotton wisp
Measuring scale
Tono-pen

Procedure
1. Hold the rabbit by its ears with one hand while supporting its bottom with
the other hand
2. Fix the rabbit in a rabbit holder
3. Clip the eyelashes using curved scissors since the eye lashes may
interfere while administering drugs and eliciting corneal reflex.
4. Take care not to injure the eyes or eyelids of the rabbit
5. Keep one eye (either left or right) as control and the other as test.
6. Use normal saline as control
7. Wash both eyes with normal saline thoroughly to remove the residual
drugs, if any instilled before.
8. Use the pouch technique to instill drugs in the eye.
9. Press the medial canthus for a minute after instilling the drug so that the
drug does not escape through the lacrimal canal.
10.Measure the following parameters in both control and drug treated eyes
and tabulate the readings.
11.This experiment is done by using normal saline 0.9%, pilocarpine 1%,
lignocaine 1%, and also atropine 1% as the drug.

Result and discussion

All the results of this experiment are all obtained by using ExPharmPro
software. For the first experiment, the left eye of rabbit (No.1) is instilled with
pilocarpine drug whereas the right eye is instilled with normal saline which act as
a control. When pilocarpine drug is injected into the left eye, the eye constrict
from 3 mm to 1.5 mm whereas the right eye remain the same size of pupil which
is 3 mm. When the rabbit is tested with a torch, both the eyes of the rabbit
constrict. This indicates that light reflex is present in both eyes. Besides, when
tested with the cotton wisp, both are blinking as it indicates that corneal reflex is
also present in both eyes of the rabbit. Since pilocarpine works by lowering the
fluid pressure inside the eye balls, it causes the left eye to have difference
intraocular pressure before and after injecting pilocarpine (from 15.6 mmHg to
14.1 mmHg). For the right eye, the intraocular pressure remains the same (15.6
mmHg).
For experiment 2, we used a different rabbit (rabbit no.2) where the left
and right eye we instilled lignocaine drug and normal saline (as a control)
respectively. When lignocaine is instilled into the left eye, the eye constrict
whereas the right eye remain unchanged. When tested the rabbit with torchlight,
both eye constrict as it indicates that light reflex is present.. For the size of pupil,
both eyes have the same size even after we instilled the drug. This shows that,
lignocaine has no effect on the size of pupil. Besides, the corneal reflex is only
present in the right eyes as it blinked when being tested using cotton wisp. For
the left eye, there is no sign of blinking (corneal reflex) when tested with the
cotton. Therefore, this shows that lignocaine is an anaesthetic as it causes
numbness to the eye Apart from that, lignocaine works by increasing the fluid
pressure inside the eye. Thus, the intraocular pressure is decrease by 0.4 mmHg
in the left eye whereas for the right eye, it remains unchanged.
For the third experiment, the 3 rd rabbit is used where we instilled cocaine
drug and normal saline (as a control) in left and right eye respectively. The left
eye constrict when the cocaine is instilled in it whereas the right eye remain
unchanged. When the eyes of the rabbit are tested with torchlight, both eyes
constrict which indicates that light reflex is present. For the corneal reflex, it is
present in right eye but absent in the left eye. This is because cocaine acts as a
local anaesthetic where it causes numbness to the left eye. Thus, no blinking
occurs. The pupil size of the left eye become bigger as it is dilated by the cocaine
but the right eye size remains the same. In addition, the intraocular pressure
decreases in the left eye and remains the same the right eye. This is because;
cocaine lowered the fluid pressure inside the eye.
For the last experiment, a new rabbit is used (rabbit 4) where the left and
right eye is instilled with atropine and normal saline respectively. When the
atropine drug is instilled, it causes the eye to dilate and increase the pupil size
by 2 mm. whereas the pupil size of the right eye remains the same. When the
rabbit is tested with torchlight, only the right eye shows the light reflex is
present. Other than that, both rabbit eyes are blinked when tested with cotton
wisp. This shows that the corneal reflex is present in both eyes. For the
intraocular pressure both eyes remain the same before and after instilled the
drug.