The antigen-bearing eye and the spleen are indispensable in maintaining anterior chamber-associated immune deviation.

PURPOSE: To investigate the role of the eye and the spleen in maintaining suppression of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) after anterior chamber (AC) inoculation of allogeneic splenocytes. METHODS: Suppression of DTH response was tested in BALB/c mice after AC inoculation of allogeneic B10.D2 splenocytes. Seven days after AC injection, the antigen-inoculated eyes were enucleated or the spleens were removed. After enculeation or splenectomy at different time intervals, DTH responses in groups of the BALB/c mice were examined. Spleen components obtained from BALB/c mice that had been primed by B10.D2 splenocytes in the AC 7 days earlier were transferred intravenously to groups of naive syngeneic acceptors. At various intervals after adoptive transfer, variations of DTH responses were tested. RESULTS: Inoculation of B10.D2 splenocytes to the AC of BALB/c mice induced antigen-specific suppression of DTH. Either enucleation of the antigen-inoculated eyes or splenectomy weakened the DTH-suppressive effect within 5 weeks and abolished it within 9 weeks, whereas the mice retaining both antigen-inoculated eyes and spleens maintained longstanding DTH suppression. Adoptive transfer of spleen components to syngeneic acceptors demonstrated DTH suppression for only 3 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: The antigen-inoculated eye and spleen are required for long-standing suppression of DTH after AC inoculation of allogeneic splenocytes.