ABILITY OF INTRACAMERALLY INOCULATED B-CELL AND T-CELL ENRICHED ALLOGENEIC LYMPHOCYTES TO ENHANCE CORNEAL ALLOGRAFT SURVIVAL

Injection of an antigen into the anterior chamber induces an immune re sponse in which antibody production is normal while delayed hypersensi tivity reactivity is depressed. Several antigens have been used to ind uce this response which has been termed anterior chamber associated im mune deviation. We have demonstrated that allogeneic lymphocytes injec ted into the anterior chamber of Lewis rats increase the success rate of subsequent corneal grafts derived from the lymphocyte donor strain. To begin understanding the antigenic requirements of this phenomenon, Wistar/Furth lymphocytes were partially purified into B- and T-cell p opulations by panning on anti-immunoglobulin coated petri-dishes. Thes e enriched populations were injected separately into the anterior cham ber of Lewis rats. Two weeks later these Lewis rats received a full-th ickness corneal graft derived from Wistar/Furth donors. Grafts were sc ored for opacity and neovascularization over the subsequent 8-10 weeks . In control animals injected with balanced salt solution, 20% of the grafts cleared sufficiently to be judged successful. Grafts placed on rats injected with unseparated splenic lymphocytes were judged success ful in 75% of the cases. Comparable percentages for grafts on animals injected with B-cell enriched and T-cell enriched populations were 85 and 50 respectively. These results suggest that B cells, which express both class I and class II major histocompatibility antigens are more efficient at inducing anterior chamber associated immune deviation tha n are T cells, the majority of which express only class I major histoc ompatibility antigens.