Immunopathologic uveitis in the mouse due to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) virus induces a fatal immunopathologic process in the central nervous system (CNS) of the adult mouse after intracerebral inoculation without accompanying eye disease. Intraocular injection of virus results in uveitis starting about the 7th day, with little or no CNS involvement. The ocular disease in its mild form is an iridocyclitis, but the more severe form may involve the entire uvea and even take the form of a panophthalmitis. The inflammatory infiltrate, which is almost exclusively composed of lymphocytes and histiocytes, follows the distribution of viral antigen within the ocular tissues, as determined by fluorescent antibody staining. Immunosuppression with cyclophosphamide prevents the disease, although the virus can, thereafter, be found persisting both within the eye and in extraocular sites. Ocular disease can be evoked in the chronic virus carrier by the adoptive transfer of sensitized lymphocytes from virus immune syngeneic donors. Development of the immune mediated inflammatory reaction in either the acutely infected animal or the adoptively immunized virus carrier is accompanied by clearance of the viral infection. Thus, the same mechanism responsible for viral clearance apparently mediates the ocular disease.