Significant hyperemia results after 1 h of retinal ischemia in cats. Adenosine receptor blockade significantly attenuates the increase in retinal blood flow that occurs in response to systemic hypoxia. Synthesizing these findings, I hypothesized that adenosine receptor antagonism would attenuate the increase in blood flow that follows retinal ischemia. In these experiments, blood flows were measured with radioactively labeled microspheres in the retina and choroid of adult cats anesthetized with chloralose and acepromazine. Ischemia was induced for 1 h in both eyes by elevation of intraocular pressure above systolic arterial pressure. Blood flows were measured before ischemia and 5 min after the return of normal intraocular pressure. In each animal, after baseline blood flows were determined and approximately 10-15 min before ischemia was induced, one eye received 0.1 ml of intravitreal 0.01M 8-sulfophenyltheophylline, a polar adenosine receptor antagonist, while the opposite eye, the control, received an equal volume of intravitreal saline. Arterial blood gas tensions, systemic arterial pressure, hematocrit, and anesthetic level were kept constant during the experimental protocol. Compared with control eyes, hyperemia was significantly attenuated in the retinal circulation after ischemia in eyes injected with 8-sulfophenyltheophylline. Increase in post-ischemic choroidal blood flow was not affected. Although adenosine is involved in the vasodilatation that occurs when blood flow is restored after retinal ischemia, adenosine receptor blockade did not completely abolish hyperemia, implying that blockade was incomplete or other vasoactive substances also affect post ischemic hyperemia in the retina.