Intraocular pressure in the smallest primate aging model: the gray mouse lemur

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the practicability of common tonometers used in veterinary medicine for rapid intraocular pressure (IOP) screening, to calibrate IOP values gained by the tonometers, and to define a reference IOP value for the healthy eye in a new primate model for aging research, the gray mouse lemur.

Studied animals and procedures: TonoVet^® and the TonoPen^™ measurements were calibrated manometrically in healthy enucleated eyes of mouse lemurs euthanized for veterinary reasons. For comparison of the practicability of both tonometers as a rapid IOP assessment tool for living mouse lemurs, the IOP of 24 eyes of 12 animals held in the hand was measured. To define a standard reference value for IOP in mouse lemurs, 258 healthy animals were measured using the TonoVet^® .

Results: Intraocular pressure measurements for the TonoVet^® can be corrected using the formula: y = 0.981 + (1.962*TonoVet^® value), and those for the TonoPen^™ using that of y = 5.38 + (1.426*TonoPen^™ value). The calibrated IOP for a healthy mouse lemur eye was 20.3 ± 2.8 mmHg. The TonoVet^® showed advantages in practicability, for example, small corneal contact area, short and painless corneal contact, shortened total time spent on investigation, as well as the more accurate measured values. IOP measurements of healthy mouse lemur eyes were not affected by age, sex, eye side, or colony.

Conclusion: Tonometry using TonoVet^® is the more practicable assessment tool for IOP measurement of the tiny eyes of living mouse lemurs. Pathological deviations can be identified based on the described reference value.

Keywords: aging; intraocular pressure; mouse lemur; primate; reference value; tonometer.