Studies of Arthritis and Other Lesions Induced in Rats by Injection of Mycobacterial Adjuvant

Abstract

In view of the importance of so-called endogenous uveitis as a cause of disability and even of permanent blindness, 1 it is remarkable that no adequate technique exists for reproducing this lesion experimentally. A possible model is provided by serum disease of the eye, which has been the subject of a great number of investigations (reviewed by Foss 2 ). In this type of experiment, however, there is manipulation of the eye itself, usually the injection of antigen directly into the anterior chamber or the vitreous, or local trauma permitting escape of antigen from the circulation into the eye. Autoimmunization to antigens of the eye, notably lens 3 and uvea, 4,5 has been reported to give inflammatory uveal lesions. These, however, bear a closer resemblance to the human diseases phakoanaphylactic endophthalmitis and sympathetic ophthalmia than to endogenous uveitis. In the course of studying an experimental arthritis, produced in the rat by