Transcellular aqueous humor outflow: a theoretical and experimental study.

When the aqueous humor passed through the transcellular channels of the inner wall endothelium of Schlemm's canal the flow was estimated to be very slow and viscous (Reynolds' number about 10(-3)). It was found to be accurate to treat this extreme flow situation with conventional hydrodynamic formulae without specific corrections. Four different principal configurations of the transcellular channels were investigated. The theoretical calculations yielded results in good agreement with those obtained from the experimental model studies. Where deviations occurred they were probably explained by a radial flow component, which was not incorporated in the theoretical formulae applied. A spherical channel configuration was considered most similar to the in vivo situation and this yielded experimental resistance values half those of previously applied theoretical methods. Using previous morphological data the present results indicated that less than 5% of the total resistance to aqueous humor outflow was located in the inner wall endothelium in normal human eyes, and about 10% in cynomolgus monkey eyes at normal intraocular pressures.