Glaucoma Filtration Surgery in Rabbit Pre-Clinical Models: Design, Drug Dosing and Reporting Practices 2011–2025

Background: The rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a currently indispensable pre-clinical model for fundamental discovery and translational research in glaucoma surgery. While not fully representative of the human eye, the rabbit often serves as the first robust assessment of a new chemical entity in an anatomically and physiologically relevant setting. In later stages of development, the rabbit is also a critical model for regulatory-facing Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) graded pre-clinical safety studies. However, while guidelines exist for human glaucoma surgeries in terms of patient profile vs surgery type and success criteria, there is limited collated information available on how rabbit glaucoma filtration surgeries are designed, use and mode of administration of anti-metabolite Mitomycin C (MMC) and post-operative antibiotic and anti-inflammatory dosing regime. These disparities limit cross-comparability in studies and encourage sub-optimal study design and incomplete reporting. Methods: This review investigated and collated current procedural and reporting practices based on 100 peer-reviewed rabbit glaucoma filtration surgery publications from the years 2011-2025. Publications meeting acceptance criteria were segmented into pre-operative design (ethical approval, rabbit characteristics, study duration), intra-operative (surgery type, surgical approach, use of MMC) and post-operative follow up (antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, analysis and adverse events). Results: It was found that there were clear preferences in animal model selection, study design and intra-/post-operative anti-fibrotic/inflammatory treatment regimes. Additionally, there were several areas identified where reporting was ambiguous or omitted. E.g. rabbit age, post-operative treatments, adverse events. The levels of omission were 16-30% and represent areas for improvement and highlight the need for ongoing review in pre-clinical research.