... intraocular sur-gery. Ophthalmology 98:227–228, 1991. 24. Peyman, G. A., and Schulman, J. A. Intravitreal drug therapy. In: IntravitrealSurgery. Norwalk: Appleton-Century-Crofts, pp. 40 7 45 5.25. ... Similarrelationshipsbetweenretinalpermeability,vitreousdiffusivity,mole-cularweight,andhalf-lifehavebeenshownbyMaurice(32,36).Withintherangestudied,half-lifeisinverselydependentonthevitreousdiffusivityandretinalpermeability.Thehalf-lifehasagreaterdependenceonthevitreousdiffusivitythanontheretinalpermeability,althoughneitherrelationshipislinear.Astheretinalpermeabilityeitherdecreasestowardszeroorincreasestoahighvalue,thehalf-lifeapproacheseitherahighoralowlimit,respec-tively.Thisisconsistentwithexpectationsbecausealldrugiseliminatedacrossthehyaloidmembranewhentheretinalpermeabilityiszero.Therefore,thehalf-lifewillbedependentontherateatwhichdrugreachesthehyaloidmembrane,whichisdeterminedbythedrugdiffusivitythroughthevitreous.Likewise,whentheretinalpermeabilityishigh,therateofeliminationwillbelimitedbytherateofdiffusionacrossthevitreous.Althoughtherangeofdrugdiffusivitiesconsideredisnotlargeenoughtoshowtheeffectofextremevaluesofdiffusivityonhalf-life,itisexpectedthatasthevitreousdiffusivitydecreases,thehalf-lifeshouldincreasewithoutbound.However,asthevitreousdiffusivityincreases,drugeliminationwouldoccurprimarilythroughthehyaloidmembraneintotheaqueoushumorandultimatelythroughtheaqueous/bloodbarrier.Sincediffusivityintheaqueoushumorshouldbeatthesameasinthevitreousandhyaloid,theflowingaqueoushumorshouldnotrepresentalimitingmasstransferbarrier.Althoughthefiniteelementmodeldidnotaccountfortheaqueous/bloodbarrier,thepropertiesofthisbarrierwoulddictatethelowerlimitofvitreoushalf-lifewhenvitreousdiffusivityincreasestolargevalues.Mostdrugsadministeredintravitreallyhavemolecularweightsran-gingfrom300to500Da;therefore,Figure 14( foravitreousdiffusivityof5:6Â10À6cm2/s,354Da)willberepresentativeofmostdrugs.However,forsmallerorlargercompounds,thequantitativerelationshipbetweenhalf-lifeandthepermeabilitywillbedifferent,aswillthelimitingvalues.Nevertheless,thesamequalitativerelationshipshouldstillbeobserved,regardlessofthevitreousdiffusivity.Consequently,Figure14permitsqua-litativecomparisonsbetweentheeliminationofdifferentdrugs(molecularweightaffectsdiffusivity).Furthermore,Figure14demonstratestheimpor-tanceofdoseadjustmentifadrugisadministeredintoaneyecompromisedbyretinalinflammationorotherdiseasethatalterthepermeabilityoftheblood-retinalbarrier. 4. ResultsofAphakiaonDrugDistributionintheVitreousFigure15showsthemodelcalculatedconcentrationprofileoffluoresceinonhalf ... Therap.13(5) ;44 5 45 9, 1997.30. Kaiser, R., and Maurice, D. M. The diffusion of fluorescein in the lens. Exp.Eye Res. 3:156–165, 19 64. 31. Sebag, J. Aging of the vitreous. Eye 1:2 54 262, 1987.32....