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Anterior chamber of eyeball: anatomy, location and function

The anterior chamber is the fluid-filled space between the cornea and iris. It contains aqueous humour, which nourishes the cornea and lens and maintains intraocular pressure.

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Highlighted in the model: Anterior chamber of eyeball. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Anterior chamber of eyeball at a glance

What it is
The anterior chamber is the fluid-filled space between the cornea and iris.
Location
It lies behind the cornea and in front of the iris and pupil, and is continuous with the posterior chamber via the pupil.
Function
It contains aqueous humour, which nourishes the cornea and lens and maintains intraocular pressure.
Body system
Eye & ear · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA58082 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Aqueous humour drains through the trabecular meshwork into the canal of Schlemm.
  • Produced by ciliary processes.

Clinical relevance

Impaired drainage raises intraocular pressure, leading to glaucoma.

Structures next to the anterior chamber of eyeball

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Anterior chamber of eyeball (FMA58082). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §14.1 Sensory Perception. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.