The primary objective of this study was to investigate the role of acetylcysteine on the treatment of experimentally induced corneal defects in dogs.

Seven dogs, 5 males and 2 females, were used in this study. After anesthesia a corneal defect (lamellar keratectomy) at the center of right and left corneas of each dog was created with an trephine of a 7.5 mm in diameter. Then, it was administered to the left eye of each dog 3% acethylcysteine and to the contralateral right eye serum physiologic 3-4 drops each eye and three times per day for two months.

During clinical examination, it was observed that corneal opacity disappeared in 20 days in left eyes contrary to any progress in the right eyes. At the end of the study, three randomly selected dogs were killed and the corneal wound healing processes of their both eyes were biomicroscopically and histhopatologically evaluated. Biyomicroscopic examination revealed that the boandries of the defect, at the right eyes were evident whereas those at the left eyes were not distinctly evident. On the histopatologic examination, it was observed that there was a marked healing on the corneal epithelial layer of the left eyes in contrast to incomplete corneal epithelial healing on the right eyes.

As a result, acetylcysteine was found to have a marked induction on corneal wound healing process in dogs.