Systemic immunetolerance induction as a preventive or therapeutic strategy for degenerative disorders that occur with chronic inflammation

Abstract

The eye is able to regulate the inflammatory response by activating a specific and systemic tolerance to antigens that are inoculated within it. This ability can be exploited to regulate the inflammatory response in degenerative diseases. However, the time during which this state of immunotolerance is maintained and whether its permanence depends on the age of induction is unknown to this date. To evaluate the persistence of immune tolerance to bovine serum albumin (BSA). BSA was inoculated in the anterior chamber of the eye. The rats were subsequently immunized with BSA to assess specific immune tolerance to the antigen throughout time. The results show that both juvenile and adult rats were tolerated to BSA (t₍₅₎:3.102, p < 0.05; t₍₈₎:3.278, p < 0.001) and this state remained for five months post-induction in juvenile rats (t₍₇₎:11.704, p < 0.001) and for 4 months in adult rats (t₍₅₎:3.278, p < 0.05).