Veterinary collection reveals information about eye disease

Richard Dubielzig has a collection of eyeballs. They’re not exactly peering out at him from shelves, though.

Dubielzig, a veterinary pathologist at the School of Veterinary Medicine, does his own peering at the Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratory of Wisconsin. Dubielzig founded the lab, which has more than 7,000 slide-mounted eyeball specimens, making it one of the largest such collections in the world.

Through his comparative pathology service, Dubielzig is able to provide accurate and timely diagnosis of even the most obscure eye problems for veterinary ophthalmologists. Best of all, the service is non-invasive.

“Instead of developing an animal model and creating disease to study it, my work uses medical specimens that are available through routine medical procedures such as autopsy or biopsy,” he says. “By examining these specimens, we develop a better understanding of spontaneous disease.”

Eyeballs, mostly from dogs and cats, arrive from all around the world in watertight plastic jars, primarily from veterinary ophthalmologists seeking pathology information. Dubielzig examines the eyes for evidence and reports back to the submitting ophthalmologist.

Technicians then slice thin sections off the eyeball, mount the section on a slide and dye the slide for better visibility.

The majority of cases involve tumors, severe inflammatory disease, glaucoma or trauma. Dubielzig says the sheer quantity of eyeballs in all stages of disease coming through the lab enables him to determine the origin of certain types of problems.

In addition to the pathology collection, Dubielzig oversees an “Eye Museum” of donated specimens of normal eyes from all species.