The rates of ion movement from plasma to aqueous humor in the dogfish, Squalus acanthias.

Aqueous humor dynamics were studied in the dogfish, Squalus acanthias, using isotopically labeled inulin, Na+, Cl-, and HCO-3. Fluid production was 100 mul per hour, with a turnover rate constant of 0.4 hr.-1, about half that of mammals. The ciliary process contains carbonic anhydrase and Na-K-ATPase. Diffusion of Na+ and Cl- from plasma to aqueous was four to five times greater than flow, and from aqueous to vitreous, about 15 times greater. Sodium and chloride secretion is masked by the diffusion process; neither ouabain nor acetazolamide yield measurable effects on accumulation of these isotopes. HCO-3 accumulation in aqueous was very rapid and was reduced by inhibition of carbonic anhydrase. Analyses of the data suggest that newly formed aqueous has similar Na+ concentration to plasma, but is high in HCO-3 and low in Cl-. This anion pattern resembles mammalian aqueous humor, and cerebrospinal fluid and endolymph of other vertebrates. These and other data suggest that constant features of formation of these fluids in all phyla are sodium transport and formation of HCO-3 from CO2.