The pupillary, the intraocular pressure and the vasomotor responses to noradrenaline in rabbits.

1. A study has been made of the cause of the temporal disparity between the pupillary and intraocular pressure responses to noradrenaline applied topically. 2. Over a 5-day experimental period, the quantitative characteristics of the pupillary response to noradrenaline applied either once or several times daily remained essentially unchanged. In the same rabbits the delay in pressure response to noradrenaline on the first day was increased by a second application and, on subsequent days, multiple applications of noradrenaline induced a biphasic pressure response. 3. Intravenous phenoxybenzamine inhibited both the pupillary and the biphasic pressure responses to noradrenaline. Phenoxybenzamine applied topically inhibited the ocular hypertensive but not the hypotensive and pupillary responses. 4. Analysis of aqueous humour dynamics by manometric procedures showed that the hyper- and hypotensive responses were associated with increase and decrease, respectively, of the resistance to outflow of the aqueous humour.