An orthotopic penetrating keratoplasty model was developed in the rat. An oversized (0.5 mm) graft was used and 8 interrupted sutures were applied. These sutures were not removed. Eleven grafts out of 13 were rejected by the 3rd week in the disparate group (Brown Norway rat to Lewis rat transplantation group), which was characterized by edema, opacity, and neovascularization. All grafts remained clear in the syngeneic group (Lewis rat to Lewis rat transplantation group). Immunohistochemical examination was performed. This model seems to be a reliable and reproducible one to evaluate rejection reaction in corneal transplantation.
Animals ; Female ; Graft Rejection ; Keratoplasty, Penetrating/immunology/*methods/pathology ; Lymphocyte Subsets/immunology/pathology ; Macrophages/immunology/pathology ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred BN ; Rats, Inbred Lew ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Transplantation, Isogeneic

OBJECTIVETo gain insight into the role of dendritic cells in graft rejection following penetrating keratoplasty by investigating their distribution in rat cornea.

METHODSOrthotopical corneal transplantation was performed and immunohistochemical staining of the whole-mount cornea and the spleen tissue specimen employed to determine the distribution of the dendritic cells in the cornea.

RESULTSGraft rejection occurred in all rats following the transplantation. No OX-62(+) dendritic cells were found in normal cornea but they were present in the epithelium of the cornea graft with allograft rejection.

CONCLUSIONOX-62(+) dendritic cells presenting in the rejected cornea may be related to acute graft rejection after penetrating keratoplasty.

Animals ; Cornea ; immunology ; pathology ; surgery ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; physiology ; Female ; Graft Rejection ; etiology ; immunology ; physiopathology ; Keratoplasty, Penetrating ; adverse effects ; methods ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rats, Wistar