Further Studies on Facility of Flow Through the Trabecular Meshwork

In 1954 and 1955 preliminary results were reported on attempts at measuring directly how much of the normal resistance to outflow of aqueous humor is attributable to the trabecular meshwork in human eyes.1,2In the more recent of these experiments enucleated human eyes were perfused with sodium chloride solution through a needle which entered the anterior chamber through the cornea and communicated with both anterior and posterior chambers. The facility of outflow was determined by measuring both the rate of flow and the intraocular pressure after a steady state was attained. Then, the trabecular meshwork in one quadrant was curetted with the point of the transcorneal needle, and the facility of outflow was redetermined. In experiments on 19 eyes, no change in facility of outflow was found in 12, but an increase occurred in 6, and a small decrease, in only 1. Microscopic examination of sections of all eyes