Exacerbation of Spontaneous Rat Corneal Opacities in a Polymorphonuclear Elastase Inhibitor Toxicity Study

Spontaneous corneal deposits, characterized by the presence of multiple basophilic granules at the basis of the corneal epithelium, are well described in different rat strains (1, 19) but in the literature a variation in terminology is found: i.e. corneal degeneration (1), corneal opacities (12), corneal dystrophy (19) or band keratopathy (33). This pathology is not unique to the rat but has been described in various other laboratory animals such as mouse (34), rabbit (11, 13) and dog (associated to hyperadrenocorticism, 31), as well as in man in which comparison is often done with band keratopathy (1).