THE ANTIGEN-BEARING EYE AND THE SPLEEN ARE INDISPENSABLE IN MAINTAINING ANTERIOR CHAMBER-ASSOCIATED IMMUNE DEVIATION

Purpose. To investigate the role of the eye and the spleen in maintain ing suppression of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) after anterior chamber (AC) inoculation of allogeneic splenocytes. Methods. Suppressi on of DTH response was tested in BALB/c mice after AC inoculation of a llogeneic B10.D2 splenocytes. Seven days after AC injection, the antig en-inoculated eyes were enucleated or the spleens were removed. After enucleation or splenectomy at different time intervals, DTH responses in groups of the BALB/c mice were examined. Spleen components obtained from BALB/c mice that had been primed by B10.D2 splenocytes in the AC 7 days earlier were transferred intravenously to groups of naive syng eneic accepters. At various intervals after adoptive transfer, variati ons of DTH responses were tested. Results. Inoculation of B10.D2 splen ocytes to the AC of BALB/c mice induced antigen-specific suppression o f DTH. Either enucleation of the antigen-inoculated eyes or splenectom y weakened the DTH-suppressive effect within 5 weeks and abolished it within 9 weeks, whereas the mice retaining both antigen-inoculated eye s and spleens maintained longstanding DTH suppression. Adoptive transf er of spleen components to syngeneic accepters demonstrated DTH suppre ssion for only 3 weeks. Conclusions. The antigen-inoculated eye and sp leen are required for long-standing suppression of DTH after AC inocul ation of allogeneic splenocytes.