The factors which determine the production of intraocular fluid / by E. E. Henderson and E. H. Starling.

  • Henderson, Edward Erskine
Date:
[1906]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The factors which determine the production of intraocular fluid / by E. E. Henderson and E. H. Starling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    [Bepinted frrni the Proceedings of the Royal Society, B. Vol. 77] The Factors which Determine the Production of Intraocular Fluid. By E. E. Henderson and E. H. Starling, F.E.S. (From the Physiological Laboratory, University College.) (Received November 23, 1905.—Read January 18, 1906.) In spite of the very numerous researches which have been made during the last half century on the seat and mechanism of production of intraocular fluid, ophthalmologists and physiologists are still far from an agreement on the subject, and a review of the literature reveals many discrepancies in the experimental evidence which it is impossible to clear away without a re-exammation of the whole subject. The following paper contains the results of experiments made with the view of determining the weight to be ascribed to different experimental investigations. As to the seat of production of the intraocular fluid, nearly all authorities - are agreed that it is produced by the ciliary processes. From these processes a minute proportion travels backwards into the vitreous cavity, to be absorbed by the lymphatics of the optic disc, while by far the greater part makes its way between the lens and the ciliary processes, through the fibres of the suspensory ligament, into the posterior chamber, whence it passes round the margin of the iris into the anterior chamber. In addition to this mode of production, it has been suggested by Ehrlich that an appreciable amount of intraocular fluid may be secreted directly into the anterior chamber by the anterior surface of the iris. The experiments of Ehrlich (1) were made by the injection of a diffusible substance, fluorescine, and we agree with Leber (2) in regarding them as proving the possibility of difiusion between the vessels in the iris and the anterior chamber, but not the secretion of a normal intra- ocular fluid by this channel. At any rate, any fluid formed in this way is negligible when compared with that which is produced in the neighbourhood of the ciliary processes. On the other hand, the place of absorption of the intraocular fluid is universally agreed to be the angle of the anterior chamber. Here the fluid is passed under pressure into the spaces of Fontana, whence it makes its way into the canal of Schlemm, between the endothelial cells lining this canal, and so is carried away into the venous system. This absorption is continuous, and its rapidity is largely determined by the height of the intraocular pressucre. Since we have a constant absorption and a constant pouring out of fluid into the eyeball, it is evident that the intraocular pressure must be I