Garner A
Trans Ophthalmol Soc U K (1962). 1980 Apr;100(Pt 1):179-85.
Despite its importance as a cause of blindness, there is still much to be learned about the way in which onchocerciasis damages ocular tissues. Much of the difficulty encountered in investigating the problem is due to the lack of an adequate laboratory model amenable to study outside the endemic areas of O. volvulus infection. An attempt has been made to reproduce the ocular effects of O. volvulus in humans by infecting rabbits and guinea-pigs and bovine (O. gutturosa) and equine (O. cervicalis) strains of Onchocerca. The subconjunctival inoculation of rabbits with microfilariae of O. volvulus can produce a keratitis comparable to that seen in the naturally occurring disease and there is evidence that the intensity of the inflammatory response can be modified by pre-immunization. Injecting microfilariae into the posterior segment is equally able to produce choroido-retinal lesions, but evidence that immunological mechanisms are involved is less obvious.
尽管盘尾丝虫病作为致盲原因很重要，但关于盘尾丝虫病损害眼部组织的方式仍有许多有待了解之处。研究该问题时遇到的许多困难是由于缺乏适合在盘尾丝虫感染流行区以外进行研究的适当实验室模型。人们尝试通过感染兔子、豚鼠以及牛（牛盘尾丝虫）和马（马盘尾丝虫）的盘尾丝虫菌株来重现盘尾丝虫在人类眼部产生的影响。用盘尾丝虫微丝蚴对兔子进行结膜下接种可产生与自然发生的疾病中所见类似的角膜炎，并且有证据表明炎症反应的强度可通过预先免疫来改变。将微丝蚴注入眼后段同样能够产生脉络膜视网膜病变，但涉及免疫机制的证据不太明显。
