Abstract
To investigate the influence of the retinal function in lens-induced uveitis (LIU), we examined the electroretinograms (ERG) in the uveitis model of Japanese white rabbits (Jla:JW) induced by autologous water-soluble lens protein. The experimental LIU model was made as follows. Water-soluble lens protein was prepared from the lens of the right eye, which was removed by the extracapsular extraction method, and 10 days later a mixture of the prepared lens protein (10mg) and Freund's complete adjuvant was injected subcutaneously into the fingers. Then, 2 weeks late, the lens protein (800μg) sterilized by filtering was injected into the anterior chamber of the left eye (LIU group). Sterile physiological saline was injected into the anterior chamber as the control. The congested hypertrophy of the iris in LIU group was shown clearly for 7 days after the injection of the anterior chamber as compared with the control (P<0.05 or P<0.01). There was no difference between the LIU group and the control in the protein concentrations of the anterior chamber. The antibodies produced by all animals were α-crystallin antibodies, and their serum antibody titers did not differ in either group. There was no difference between the LIU group and the control comparing with each component of ERG (peak latency of a- and b-waves, amplitude of a- and b-waves).
