Experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis induced by the gamma-subunit of cyclic guanosine monophosphate phosphodiesterase in rats.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the capacity of the recombinant gamma-subunit (P gamma) of cyclic guanosine monophosphate phosphodiesterase to induce experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis in Lewis rats.


METHODS
Bovine P gamma was expressed in Escherichia coli cells and purified by fast protein liquid chromatography. Lewis rats were immunized by a single footpad injection of P gamma emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvant. Clinical and histopathologic changes in the eye and pineal gland were examined. Lymphocytes were prepared from the lymph nodes of rats with uveitis and transferred by intraperitoneal injection to naive recipient rats.


RESULTS
Immunization of rats with P gamma induced panuveitis and pinealitis with clinical and histopathologic changes similar to those induced by S-antigen. Lymphocytes from the lymph nodes of diseased rats transferred uveitis to naive recipients.


CONCLUSIONS
P gamma, a retina-specific protein of molecular weight less than 10,000 kDa, is capable of inducing uveoretinitis in Lewis rats. The disease can be transferred adoptively to naive rats by injection of lymphocytes from donor rats with experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis. Inflammation of the pineal gland of immunized rats suggests that P gamma is not only localized to the retina but also to the pineal gland.
Ren
J
J
Kresge Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA.
Bonderenko
V A
VA
Yamazaki
A
A
Shichi
H
H
D015106:3',5'-Cyclic-GMP Phosphodiesterases / Q000633:toxicity*; D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000633:toxicity*; D015864:Panuveitis / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000633:toxicity; D012173:Retinitis / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
D007527:Isoenzymes; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015106:3',5'-Cyclic-GMP Phosphodiesterases