Anti-retinal antibodies in serum of laser-treated rabbits.

PURPOSE: Retinal injuries that affect the photoreceptors and/or the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) may result in the leakage of retinal proteins into the systemic circulation. This study was designed to determine whether an immune response is elicited after an acute retinal injury resulting in circulating anti-retinal antibodies in the serum. METHODS: Fifty laser burns of different grades (minimally visible lesion [MVL], grade II [GII], or grade III [GIII] lesions) were created in the retinas of Dutch Belted rabbits. The degree of laser burns was confirmed by fundus imaging and histology. Serum samples were collected from the animals 3 months after the retinal injury. Candidate autoantigens were identified by two-dimensional (2-D) Western blots of rabbit retinal lysate probed with sera from either control or laser-treated animals. Candidate autoantigens were further characterized by immunostaining to confirm their retinal localization. RESULTS: Seven and 11 protein spots were selected from the MVL and GII laser-treated samples, respectively, for autoantigen identification. No protein spots were detected in the GIII laser-treated samples. Four candidate autoantigens were common to both MVL and GII lesions: dihydropyrimidinase-related protein 2, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase C, chaperonin-containing T-complex polypeptide 1 subunit zeta, and pyruvate kinase isozyme. CONCLUSIONS: Laser-induced retinal injuries resulted in circulating anti-retinal antibodies that were detectable 3 months after the injury. The response appeared to vary with the severity of the laser retinal damage. The identification of the candidate antigens in this study suggest that this approach may permit future development of new diagnostic methods for retinal injuries.

[Effect of lamellar keratoplasty time on the production of serum specific antibody in corneal alkali burns].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the production of serum specific anti-denatured corneal antibody and the effects of lamellar keratoplasty on changes of corneal histopathology in different stages after alkali burns. METHODS: 20 male New Zealand rabbits, with alkali burns in right eye were randomly divided into 5 groups including: burned group; 2 early lamellar keratoplasty group (operation at 3 or 7 days post alkali burns respectively); 2 middle and later lamellar keratoplasty groups (operation at 2 or 5 weeks after alkali burns respectively). The level of serum specific antibody in each group was detected by ELISA and the corneal structure was evaluated by light and electron microscopy in different stages after alkali burns. RESULTS: The anti-denatured corneal antibody was induced after corneal alkali burns. The level of antibody significantly increased at 2th week post, peaking burn at 5 or 6th week, then decreasing. More antibodies were detected when contralateral eye was burn at 8 week post first burn. However, only slight increasing antibody was detected in early lamellar keratoplasty group. Furthermore, no significant changes of antibody production were observed in middle and later lamellar keratoplasty group. The light and electron microscopic analysis showed that, the corneal epithelium recovered better, the fibre of corneal stroma arranged better, inflammatory cells infiltrated less and neovascularization formed less in lamellar keratoplasty groups comparing to the burned group. The early lamellar keratoplasty groups recovered better than in middle and later lamellar keratoplasty groups. CONCLUSION: Early lamellar keratoplasty after corneal alkali burns can significantly decrease the immune response. Histopathological data also indicate that early lamellar keratoplasty can improve the tissue regeneration and recovery, prevent topical inflammatory reaction, and abate corneal neovascularization. This study suggests that early lamellar keratoplasty is more effective than the conservative treatment.

[The parameters of the body immune reactivity in applying the therapeutic keratoplasty for the treatment of ocular burn lesions of extra severity]. / Pokazateli immunologicheskoi reaktivnosti organizma pri primenenii lechebnoi keratoplastiki v lechenii ozhogovoi bolezni glaz osobo tiazheloi stepeni.

One hundred and two (128 eyes) patients with stage 4 ocular burns underwent examinations. One-stage therapeutic keratoplasty was used in 67 (67.7%) patients. Retransplantation was made in 35 (34.3%) of patients due to graft rejection. According to the study, the more severe the clinical course of burn lesions is (cases that necessitated transplantation in the present research), the more pronounced changes are observed in the body immune reactivity of victims. In particular, the below peculiarities were observed: a progressing reduction of the contents of lymphocytes' and of B-lymphocytes; and a diminishing phagocytic activity of neutrophils in the peripheral blood registered at the terminal treatment stage in the patients after retransplantation versus the 1st-group patients with a more favorable clinical course. The compensatory increase of T-lymphocytes, T-helpers and of IgA, IgG was found to be less pronounced in group 2. A notably more intense sensitization response of the body to corneal antigens was established in the patients after retransplantation, which was a basis for using this index as a prognostication test in respect to the graft rejection crisis.

[Activity of tissue and plasma kallikrein and their precursor levels in rabbit tears after alkaline burns of the cornea]. / Aktivnost' tkanevogo i plazmennogo kallikreinov i soderzhanie ikh pred shestvennikov v sleznoi krolikov posle shchelochnogo ozhoga rogovitsy.

Alterations in the activity of tissue and plasma kallikreins and in the levels of their precursors in rabbit lacrimal fluid were studied after alkaline burn of the cornea and treatment with hordox. The enzymatic activity was measured using the fluorogenic substrate Z-Phe-Arg-MCA. The activity of plasma kallikrein was increased in the lacrimal fluid within the first week after burn. Unlike plasma kallikrein, tissue kallikrein showed a higher activity within 14 and 28 days. The maximal increase in the levels of plasma and tissue kallikreins occurred within the first week. Subconjunctival injections of hordox, 0.3 ml (30,000 kIU), daily within 10 days led to a decrease in the activity of either kallikrein within the first week and did not alter tissue kallikrein activity within 14 and 28 days. Hordox did not affect the content of prekallikreins. The activation of tissue kallikrein at days 14-28 appears to occur due to increased proliferation and served as protective and compensatory responses; treatment with the polyvalent inhibitor of proteinases hordox within 8-10 days after burn did not affect this function of tissue kallikrein.

The effects of hypertonic salicylate on neutrophil migration and vascularization in the rat cornea.

Thermal cauterization of the center of the rat cornea results in emigration of neutrophils into the extravascular limbal tissue and blood vessel growth into the cornea. In this study, 1.0 M sodium salicylate, 1.0 M sodium chloride, and ointment vehicle were administered to normal and cauterized rat corneas for periods of 6, 48, and 144 h. When applied to the normal cornea, salicylate resulted in a marked increase in neutrophils in the limbal tissue at 6 h, but an inhibition at 48 h. Similarly, for the cauterized corneas, administration of salicylate increased the extent of neutrophil emigration at 6 h, but this effect was not sustained at 48 h. Neither vehicle nor sodium chloride had any effect on the extravascular neutrophil population. After 6 days, administration of the vehicle resulted in a slight increase in vascular growth into the cornea, whereas sodium salicylate caused a decrease. These findings indicate that hypertonic (1 M) sodium salicylate does not inhibit the emigration of neutrophils from limbal vessels of cauterized rat corneas, but does appear to have a cytotoxic effect on the tissues and on blood vessel endothelial cells.

[Elastolytic activity in eye tissues and serum antiproteases in corneal burns]. / Elastoliticheskaia aktivnost' v tkaniakh glaza i syvorotochnye antiproteazy pri ozhoge rogovitsy.

Within the first week after deep thermic burns of rabbit cornea elastolytic activity was increased in the impaired zone of cornea, in the cornea zones surrounding the burns as well as in ciliary body, iris of the eye and in chamber humor, whereas the antitryptic activity was increased in eye tissues. Both elastolytic and antitryptic activities were decreased within two weeks after the burns. In circulating blood alterations in content of alpha 1-antitrypsin and alpha 2-macroglobulin were directed against the proteolytic enzymes, which were activated after the cornea burns. Instillation of the antiprotease drug hordox within the first ten days after the burns led to a decrease in the elastolytic activity detected in the cornea zone with burns as well as to more favourable development of postburn inflammation.