Correlation between ocular inflammation and antibody production. II. Hemolytic plaque formation by cells of the uveal tract.

Rabbits were immunized by the intravitreal injection of BGG in the right eye and were killed 12 days later. Cell suspensions were made from uveal tract tissue and assayed for plaque production by a modification of the Jerne technique. Cells from the injected right eyes produced from 300 to 800 plaques/million cells. Cells from the left eyes, which had received only buffer, failed to produce plaques. In other experiments, rabbits were reinjected intravitreally in the opposite (left) eye at various times after primary immunization. The left eye cells produced more than 800 plaques/million cells. Cells from the right eyes were still capable of producing smaller numbers of plaques even though no inflammation had recurred. Examination of sections of uveal tract tissue revealed pyroninophilic cells in eyes that formed antibody. These observations confirm the hypothesis that ocular tissue can actually be involved in antibody formation, and that under certain conditions the eye can act as an “accessory lymph node.”