Eye Hypersensitivity Elicited by Monilia Psilosis Polysaccharide.

Abstract

In studies on sympathetic ophthalmia, Woods 1 sensitized one eye of dogs by injecting uveal pigment into the vitreous humor and observed an inflammatory reaction in both eyes on subsequent intraperitoneal injection of the same antigen. By injecting horse serum about the iris, Riehm 2 succeeded in sensitizing the rabbit eye so that subsequent intravenous injection of the antigen produced a bilateral uveitis. In their work on local organ hypersensitiveness Seegal and Seegal 3 sensitized the anterior chamber of the rabbit eye with various protein antigens, and later obtained local reactivation by intravenous administration of the homologous antigen.

Inasmuch as the substances heretofore used to sensitize and reactivate the eye have been protein in nature, a similar experiment is reported, using as the reactivator a polysaccharide fraction 4 prepared from the yeast-like fungus Monilia psilosis, Ashford. The organism itself was used as sensitizer, since the uncombined bacterial polysaccharides have been found to be non-antigenic. Suspensions of washed heat-killed monilia organisms, both intact and ground, were injected into the anterior chamber of one eye of each of 12 rabbits∗ after removal of a somewhat greater volume of aqueous humor. Control animals were given sterile saline or a 5% saline solution of the monilia polysaccharide. At various intervals (2 weeks to 81/2 months) after the original injection, and after the transitory inflammatory reaction had subsided, monilia polysaccharide, usually 50 mg. in 5% solution, was injected into an ear vein.