Experimental Production of Graft Reactions With Suppression by Topical Corticosteroids

The primary purpose of this study was to obtain a reliable experimental model of the immune corneal reaction, and then to study its modification or suppression by corticosteroids. Such a system might also serve as a quantitative method of drug assay. It was thought that a simple model which did not require prior vascularization or antigen injection would be most desirable. Graft rejection in penetrating homografts in rabbits requires preliminary treatment of host corneas to obtain extensive corneal vascularization,1or the ancillary use of skin grafts from the same donor to the host, usually two weeks postcorneal grafting.2,3Even in interlamellar heterografts, conjunctival incarceration into the corneal pocket in two areas has been suggested to help induce corneal neovascularization and accentuation of the graft rejection.4However, in no previous study has an effect of topical corticosteroids been demonstrated. Other systems to study corneal hypersensitivity have been used,