Objective To analyze the suppressive role of intravitreal infliximab on the experimental autoimmune uveitis(EAU).
Methods Thirty-two female New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into three groups. Treatment group had 16 rabbits, the model control group and normal control group had 8 rabbits respectively. Experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) was an established animal model of acute ocular inflammation induced by bovine serum albumin (BSA). The model control group and treatment group received intravitreal injection and intravenous injection of bovine serum albumin (BSA).The day after the models were operated successfully ,the model control group, treatment group and normal control group were applied with 0.9%NS(0.1ml), 10 g·L^-1infliximab(0.1ml) and 0.9%NS(0.1ml) through intravitreal injection respectively. Each group was injected once. The aqueous humor of both eyes were collected separately before the rabbits were sacrificed before operation and 5 days、10 days and 15 days after operation. Meanwhile, the ocular expression was examined. The both eyes were used for histopathological examination.
Results Before operation，the level of TNF-α and IL-2 in aqueous humor between three groups was no satistically different. 5 days, 10 days and 15 days after operation, the model control group and treatment group were significantly higher than normal control group. No significant difference was found between the model control group and treatment group（P﹥0.05）at 5 days after operation. Furthermore, at 10 days and 15 days after operation, the level of TNF-αin the model control group was（652.29±102.76）ng·L^-1and（372.63±47.59）ng·L^-1，while in the treatment group the level was declined significantly to（395.88±48.97）ng·L^-1 and（140.44±41.69）ng·L^-1（P＜0.05）. The level of IL-2 declined significantly to (40.89±8.81） ng·L^-1 and (26.48±7.71） ng·L^-1 compared to the model control group（85.55±7.74）ng·L^-1and（64.10±7.78） ng·L^-1.There were no signs or pathologic changes in all the eight rabbits in the normal control group. The histopathological examination of treatment group suggested that the inflammation was signifigantly relieved compared to the model control group.
Conclusions These findings strongly suggest that suppressive infliximab is a potent candidate for the prevention of TNF-α and IL-2 in EAU and could be applied as a novel immunoregulatory agent to control EAU.