Lens-induced uveitis: further immunological studies in an experimental model.

Inbred rats have been studied to determine under what circumstances sensitization will or will not induce uveitis. After 50 days of biomicroscopic follow-up and histologic evaluation of 119 eyes the following was found in black hooded CAP-rats (RtH-1c) presensitized to eye, liver or kidney (guinea pig): 1. Alterations only following additional damage to their own tissue by lens discission plus iridotomy 2. As the case of lens-induced uveitis in humans, alterations after the disappearance of traumatization reaction in the form of protein-rich exudate clinically and an accumulation of round cells in the anterior uvea, surrounding the lens and retinal vessels histologically 3. Dependence of these alterations on sensitization by xenogenic tissue 4. Dependence of the alterations on the animal strain, i.e. absence in albino LEW (RtH-1(1)).