Corneal Immune Response to Herpes Simplex Virus Antigens

Abstract

Abstract The immune response to herpes simplex virus (HSV) antigens was studied in sensitized guinea pigs. The animals were sensitized by footpad injections with viable HSV in complete Freund's adjuvant and challenged intracorneally with purified viral antigens at 3, 7, and 21 days later. Corneal opacities occurred only in the eyes of the sensitized animals receiving the viral antigens, not in the contralateral control eye receiving uninfected tissue culture cell antigens. The corneal opacities occurring in the sensitized animals correlated with the appearance of edema and a cellular infiltrate. The corneal infiltrate was primarily polymorphonuclear in cell type and occurred in animals with delayed type hypersensitivity before circulating antibody was detectable and was not altered by the later appearance of circulating antibody. The reaction at the corneal limbus was also characterized by polymorphonuclear leukocytes, but lymphocytes and monocytes were also present. The appearance of plasma cells at the limbus correlated with the appearance of circulating antibodies which were first detectable 10 days after sensitization. The ability of HSV antigens to inhibit migration of peritoneal exudate cells from the sensitized animals paralleled the onset of the cutaneous delayed hypersensitivity response at 7 days after sensitization. The in vitro inhibition of proliferation of HSV-sensitized corneal explants exposed to HSV antigens also correlated well with the onset of the delayed dermal hypersensitivity.