Introduction
The beneficial effect of adrenocorticotropin and adrenal corticosteroids on human uveitis is well known.1,2 They also are effective in the treatment of sympathetic ophthalmia which is a possible autoimmune uveal inflammation.3 The severity of inflammation has been well controlled in exogenous experimental uveitis.4,5 Guinea pig homoimmune uveitis serves as an experimental model to evaluate the efficacy of adrenal corticosteroid therapy. Suppression of the inflammation in this type of uveitis may be due to either a nonspecific anti-inflammatory effect, or to a specific inhibition of the reaction caused by the antigen-antibody combination.In the earlier papers of this series the occurrence, clinical characteristics, and histopathologic characteristics of homoimmune uveitis have been discussed.6-8 The clinical observations of Part II and histopathologic observations of Part III serve as control observations for these experiments.
Materials
Pigmented Guinea Pig Uveal Antigen.
—This was prepared by mixing uveal tracts with complete