A test bed for ocular drugs.

Corneal endothelium plays a vital role in maintaining corneal transparency. We describe here a new in vitro technique for detecting acute effects of ocular drugs on corneal endothelium from animal species and post-mortem human tissue. The technique is based upon trans-endothelial electrical activity and leads as a consequence, to rapid, unambiguous, quantitative assessments of pharmacological effects upon endothelial barrier function and fluid pump activity.