Abstract
This investigation is a study of the arsenic content of the aqueous humor after the intravenous injection of neo-arsphenamine in dogs.
Eleven dogs were used. Fifty milligrams of neo-arsphenamine per kilogram of body weight was injected into the jugular vein of each dog. The eyes were anesthetized with cocaine. As much aqueous humor as possible was removed from each eye with a fine bore needle at varying intervals of time after injection. The fluids of the two eyes were pooled in every case. After digestion 1 with acid, a modified Gutzeit method 2 was used in the determination of the amount of arsenic in the samples.
The details and results are shown in the accompanying table.
The normal aqueous humor contains no arsenic. Only a trace of arsenic penetrates in the anterior chamber of the eye during the first few hours after intravenous injection of large doses of neo-arsphenamine, and only the smallest measurable amount after 24 hours, representing such a slight increase over the first few hours that it seems of no significance. Paracentesis definitely increases the permeability of the eye to arsenic, even though it be done a half hour before injection of the drug. It was found that the amount of arsenic in the aqueous humor of subsequent tappings was less than that in the previous determination. The bulk of arsenic which accumulates after paracentesis apparently disappears within a few hours.
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