Purpose: To study the postnatal changes in the vitreous and lens volumes in Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: Six eyes from Sprague-Dawley rats at each age (postnatal days 1, 6, 12, 21, 30 and 120) were obtained and cryosectioned without fixation. The areas of vitreous, lens and intraocular cavity in the sections were measured separately and their volumes calculated. The percentages of vitreous and lens volumes in the intraocular cavity of each eye were also calculated. Results: The rat vitreous volumes (means ± SE) were 5.2 ± 0.5 µl on day 1, 13.4 ± 0.6 µl on day 6, 22.2 ± 1.0 µl on day 12, 27.8 ± 0.6 µl on day 21, 33.3 ± 1.3 µl on day 30 and 52.4 ± 1.9 µl on day 120. The lens volumes were 3.5 ± 0.2 µl, 7.7 ± 0.4 µl, 10.6 ± 0.4 µl, 15.1 ± 0.5 µl, 19.6 ± 0.8 µl and 43.0 ± 1.3 µl, respectively, in each time group. The vitreous and lens measurements revealed different growth rates and trends. Conclusion: Our systematic data quantify the postnatal development of the lens and the vitreous, and also provide a reference for the ocular volumes of rats at specific postnatal ages.

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