Experimental disciform edema and necrotizing keratitis in the rabbit.

The development of experimental disciform edema and necrotizing keratitis in the corneas or rabbits following intrastromal inoculation with the RE strain of herpes simplex virus is described. Following an initial episode of conjunctivitis and epithelial keratitis, a mild, centrally localized, stromal edema developed on the fifth day. Stromal edema, opcification, and neovascularization of the cornea reached maximum severity on the seventh to twenty-second day, and began to fade in most eyes thereafter. On the twenty-ninth day most corneas have attained a resolved state characterized by subepithelial granular opacities. Several eyes were observed which developed central necrotizing keratitis. Marked similarities between the animal model and human herpetic stromal keratitis were apparent. Histological observations show that early necrotizing keratitis in the rabbit is characterized by an infiltration of plasma cells and lymphocytes in the limbus, with polymorphonuclear leukocytes, lymphocytes, and macrophages in the central cornea.