Effect of Intravitreal Injection of High-Dose Bevacizumab in Monkey Eyes

Abstract

PURPOSE: To evaluate the ocular complications of intravitreal injection of high dose bevacizumab in monkey eyes. METHODS: Four healthy monkeys (Macaca fuscata) received an intravitreal injection of either 6.25 or 12.5 mg bevacizumab in the right eye; the left control eye received an intravitreal injection of the same volume of saline. The eyes were examined using slit lamp and funduscopy, optical coherence tomography (OCT), electroretinography (ERG), fundus photography (FP), fluorescein angiography (FA), and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). The eyes were enucleated 28 days after the intravitreal injection and subjected to light microscopy. RESULTS: No pathologic changes were observed by FP, FA, ICGA, OCT, and light microscopy in the eyes injected with either of the two bevacizumab doses. ERG showed no toxic change in the eyes that received the 6.25-mg dose. In two eyes that received the 12.5-mg dose, ERG showed no significant difference between the right and left eyes 4 weeks after injection, although there were transient changes in scotopic responses. CONCLUSIONS: No irreversible toxic effects were observed in monkey eyes receiving an intravitreal injection of high dose bevacizumab.