Correlation between ocular inflammation and antibody production. I. Serum antibody response following intravitreal immunization with protein antigens.

Rabbits were immunized intravitreally, intravenously, or intradermally with small amounts of protein antigen. Intravitreal immunization resulted in the development of uveitis associated with serum antibody production. Intravenous injection of the same amount of antigen was ineffective in this case, and intradermal injection was effective only if antigen was incorporated with Freund9s complete adjuvant. Intravitreally immunized animals were challenged at various times by a second intravitreal injection into the opposite eye. Even when antibody had fallen to undetectable levels, these rabbits showed a rapid onset of uveitis and an accelerated antibody response. Animals primarily immunized by the intravenous route or by the subcutaneous route also exhibited an accelerated response following intravitreal challenge into the eye. Intravenous challenge with small amounts of antigen caused a rapid rise in antibody titer in rabbits that had received a primary intravitreal injection in the right eye. However, contrary to the results obtained by others who have used higher challenge doses, uveitis did not recur in the right eyes of these animals. The results of these investigations are discussed in relation to the X, Y, Z scheme of cell differentiation for immunologically competent cells.