Decreased intraocular pressure in mice following either pharmacological or genetic inhibition of ROCK.

Purpose: Goals of this study were to determine if pharmacological or genetic inhibition of Rho-associated coiled coil containing protein kinases (known as ROCK1 and ROCK2) alters intraocular pressure (IOP) in mice.Methods: Micro-cannulation of the anterior chamber was used to measure IOP in wild-type B6.129 hybrid mice following treatment with ROCK inhibitors Y-27632 or Y-39983. For comparative purposes, wild-type mice were also treated with timolol, acetazolamide, pilocarpine, or latanoprost. Mice deficient in either Rock1 or Rock2 were generated by homologous recombination or gene trapping, respectively, and their IOP was determined using identical methods employed in the pharmacology studies.Results: Treatment of wild-type B6.129 hybrid mice with ROCK inhibitors (Y-27632 and Y-39983) resulted in significant reductions in IOP. The magnitude of IOP reduction observed with topical Y-39983 was comparable to timolol, and exceeded the IOP effects of latanoprost in this study. Pilocarpine had no discernible e...