Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is the most common form of uveitis in humans and the exact mechanism of AAU has yet to be determined. We have successfully created an animal model of Experimental Autoimmune Anterior Uveitis (EAAU) in Lewis rat. In this experiment, we studied the expression of lymphotactin – a chemokine which attracts lymphocytes to inflammation sites in the EAAU. We observed that the leukocytes of aqueous humor increased with the severity of inflammation of iris/ciliary body. There were specific lymphotactin and its receptor messenger RNA expressions in iris/cilicary body in EAAU. The expression of lymphotactin receptor in iris/ciliary body correlated with that of lymphotactin. Furthermore, the lymphotactin protein levels of aqueous humor also correlated with the disease process. Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), a nuclear factor kappa B inhibitor, markedly inhibited the expression of lymphotactin protein in the aqueous humor. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that lymphotactin was expressed on infiltrated inflammatory cells of iris/ciliary body. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that there was increasing number of CD8 + cytotoxic T cells with positive lymphotactin staining with the severity degree of inflammation. In conclusion, lymphotactin played an important role in the pathogenesis of EAAU and could attract more inflammatory cells to the iris/ciliary body.
