Corneal burn in one eye disrupts conjunctival immunological tolerance of the fellow eye

GALLETTI JEREMÍAS GASTÓN; KEITELMAN IRENE; GUZMÁN MAURICIO; SABBIONE FLORENCIA; GIORDANO MIRTA NILDA; TREVANI ANALÍA SILVINA

Congreso; ARVO 2015 Annual Meeting; 2015

ARVO

Purpose: Both conjunctivas are regarded as immunologically independent from each other, but there is anecdotal evidence that one ocular surface might condition its fellow. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effect that a corneal lesion on one eye exerts over the conjunctival immune response of the opposite eye and the potential mechanisms involved.Methods: An unilateral controlled chemical burn with NaOH was induced in the cornea of 8-week-old female Balb/c mice (day 1, 3 animals/group, n=4), which were then instilled ovalbumin (OVA) daily (days 2-5) either in the same or the fellow eye. Mice were then immunized with OVA in adjuvant (day 8) and their T cell responses were measured by delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) assays in the footpads (day 15). Some mice underwent unilateral superior cervical sympathectomy one week before corneal burn. To assess lymphatic drainage pathways, fluorescent OVA was injected in the subconjunctival space of one eye and 2 hours later each cervical lymph node was separately harvested. Results: OVA instillation in one eye of uninjured mice blunted the DTH response (51±10%, p