[The effect of ocular and/or pineal body removal in mice with spontaneously developing uveoretinitis].

Autoimmune uveoretinitis and pinealitis have been shown to develop spontaneously in BALB/c nude mice after their T cell function has been reconstituted by embryonic F344 rat thymus grafting (TG nude mice). Because anti-IRBP antibodies were detected in these mice, it was concluded that IRBP was the target antigen. In this study, we removed the eyes and/or the pineal body from TG nude mice, and examined anti-IRBP antibodies in their sera. It appeared that IRBP originating from the eyes and the pineal body were the immunogenic antigens in the TG nude mice, but the IRBP from the eyes was found to be more immunogenic and pathogenic than that from the pineal body. We also found that the incidence of uveoretinitis increases with pinealectomy in TG nude mice, even though the immune system is not affected.