Corneal burn in one eye leads to neurogenic conjunctival inflammation of the fellow eye.

KEITELMAN, IRENE A; GIORDANO, MIRTA N; GALLETTI, JEREMÍAS G; SABBIONE, FLORENCIA; GUZMAN, MAURICIO; TREVANI, ANALÍA S

Seattle

Congreso; ARVO 2016 Annual Meeting; 2016

ARVO

Purpose: To evaluate the effect that a corneal injury in one eyehas on the conjunctival immune response of the fellow eye and apotential neural mechanism involved, as both ocular surfaces areusually considered immunologically independent but recent findingssuggest otherwise.Methods: A controlled corneal burn with NaOH was induced inthe left eye of Balb/c mice (day 1), and the conjunctival immuneresponse of the right eye was assessed by either instilling ovalbumin(OVA) daily on days 2-5 or by a subconjunctival injection ofallogeneic B16 tumor cells in the right eye on day 1. OVA-specificT cell responses were measured by delayed-type-hypersensitivity(DTH) assays (day 15) after s.c. immunization with OVA in adjuvant (day 8), and tumor development was recorded for up to 3 weeks. Forsome experiments, aprepitant (substance P antagonist) was instilleddaily on the right eye on days 1-7, and for others, the corneal burnwas replaced by instillation of capsaicin (agonist of TRPV1 receptorsin afferent nerve fibers) on days 1-3.Results: Uninjured mice that received OVA in the right eyedeveloped blunted DTH responses (50±9%, p