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Abstract
The intravitreal injection of bovine serum albumin (BSA, 10 mg. per eye) or bacterial endotoxin (0.01 mg. per eye) produces classical signs of uveitis in the rabbit eye. Profound iritis and ocular hypotension could be observed within 6 to 12 hours after the injection, at the same time the aqueous humor is invaded by white cells, its [ascorbate] decreases and [protein] increases. The present study shows that parallel to these developments, there is a severe inhibition of the active accumulation of tritiated prostaglandins ([3H]-PG's) by the isolated anterior uvea. Following endotoxin injection, all but the last of these parameters return toward normal between 7 to 14 days, while a recovery of apparent prostaglandin transport capacity requires several more days. In BSA-induced uveitis, an initial, partial recovery of all these parameters is superseded by a second wave of inflammation. Subsequently, most of these parameters show some recovery, but hypotension persist for up to 10 weeks and anterior uveal [3H]-PG accumulative activity did not recover during the 20-week duration of this study. Such a prolonged, and possibly permanent, loss of anterior uveal PG transport capacity may be responsible for, or contribute to, the known vulnerability of the eye, which suffered one episode of severe uveitis, to recurrence of inflammation.