INFLUENCE OF PONTOCAINE HYDROCHLORIDE AND CHLOROBUTANOL ON RESPIRATION AND GLYCOLYSIS OF CORNEA

Abstract

In a series of preliminary studies on the metabolism of the cornea, the oxygen uptake of the human cornea was compared with that of the bovine cornea. The rate of oxygen uptake of the human cornea was insignificantly low. Since the human eye from which the cornea studied was obtained had been removed during local anesthesia with pontocaine hydrochloride, the effect of this drug on the bovine cornea was tested. When a comparable amount of the drug was added to a normally respiring bovine cornea, a considerable decrease in the oxygen consumption resulted. Consequently, we set out to make systematic measurements on the inhibitory effect of this drug, to compare it with other drugs commonly used in the eye and to determine if possible in what portion of the respiratory chain the inhibition occurs. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIC Corneas from bovine eyes were used. The eyes arrived in the laboratory about two