Transport characteristics of the blood--perilymph barrier

The inner ear must maintain a delicate homeostasis to preserve high sensitivity to acoustic and vestibular inputs. Various experimental conditions were imposed upon chinchillas to help identify these homeostatic mechanisms for the inner ear fluids. Radioactive ions (sodium, chloride, and calcium) pass into perilymph more slowly than they pass into cerebrospinal fluid or aqueous humor. The concentration of glucose in perilymph relative to that in serum was found to be quite constant (about 45 per cent) over a wide range of serum values (130-943 mg/dl) generated by continuous intravenous infusion. The transport of albumin into perilymph was very slight after injection of the radioactive protein intravenously. Osmotic agents cause an efflux of water from perilymph into a relatively hypertonic circulating blood, resulting in a secondary elevation of perilymph osmolarity. Recent findings relating to cyclic AMP metabolism and the possible role of this second messenger in the regulation of inner ear fluid metabolism are discussed. A new hypothesis that excess cyclic AMP in the inner ear may be related to endolymphatic hydrops is presented.