Factors Affecting the Penetration of Antibiotics into the Aqueous Humour

Abstract

ESSENTIALLY the blood-aqueous barrier comprises the layers of cells which separate the blood of the capillary vessels within the globe of the eye from the intra-ocular fluids. Elucidation of its nature by dynamic studies has thrown considerable light on how substances circulating in the blood plasma pass into the aqueous humour. Water readily crosses all the cellular barriers bounding the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye at a much greater speed than substances dissolved in the plasma. The latter enter the eye at widely varying rates, but in general it has been found that substances readily soluble in fat solvents pass through the blood- aqueous barrier faster than those readily soluble in water; thus ethyl alcohol travels approximately five times as rapidly as the fastest water-soluble compound studied.