Effect of prostaglandins on the blood-aqueous barrier of the perfused cat eye.

With a technique of direct visualization of the arterially perfused cat eye, the pressure head may be chosen so that fluorescein added to the perfusate just barely stains the ciliary processes. After addition of PGE1, PGE2, PGF2alpha arachidonic acid, or indomethacin, with or without PG's, no more dye emerged from the processes. The addition of acetylcholine in the eserinized eye floods the processes with dye, apparently affecting the pore size of the blood-aqueous barrier; PG's may slightly inhibit, rather than facilitate, the emergence of fluorescein from the processes. It is speculated that in the cat PG's elevate pressure and protein content by backflow from the circle of Hovius, which is the equivalent of Schlemm's canal.