EVALUATION OF OCULOHYPOTENSIVE EFFECT OF ENALAPRILAT USING INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE (IOP) RECOVERY MODEL IN RABBITS

The present study was designed to evaluate the oculohypotensive effect of enalaprilat in comparison to timolol using an intraocular pressure (IOP) recovery model. The study was carried out in 18 adult albino rabbits of 2.5-3.0 kg which were divided into 3 groups.Group Ireceivednormal saline,group II received enalaprilat (0.1%) and timolol (0.5%) was administered in group III. IOP recovery model was used to assess the effect of drugs on IOP recovery time. Additionally relative percent of IOP (IOP_t%) at various time intervals was calculated by equation: IOP_t% = (IOP_t / IOP_-40) x 100 % . Condition of conjunctiva was also examined. There was a significant (p= 0.006) delay of the IOP recovery with both timolol (150 ± 8.65 minutes) and enalaprilat (130 ± 6.83 minutes) when compared to normal saline (110 ± 6.83 minutes). There was also a change in relative percent of IOP at all the time intervals being significant at 80 minutes (p=0.036), 100 (p=0.006) and at 120 minutes (p=0.032). There was no congestion of conjunctiva with both timolol and enalaprilat. The findings suggest that enalaprilat has an oculohypotensive action and it may prove to be an additional effective, safe and may be a cost-effective topical drug for the management of glaucoma.