[Mouse corneal degeneration by bovine cornea-specific protein]

In a previous study, IgG deposits and changes were found in the corneal epithelial cells of BALB/c mice immunized by cornea-specific protein (CSP) contained in the bovine cornea. We observed the corneal changes in mice by immunoreaction to CSP for 6 months with slit-lamp microscopy, and found granular opacity under the central corneal epithelium. Histologically this opacity was composed of scattered deposits in the corneal substantia beneath the basal layer of the epithelium. The corneal epithelium in contact with the deposits became atrophied and flattened. The deposits were stained with PAS staining, and with ConA, WGA and RCA by the lectin enzyme histochemical method. Therefore, these results indicate that these deposits possess N-acetyl-D-glucosamine as a sugar residue. In the degenerated corneal epithelium, peroxidase-staining by the anti-CSP antibody enzyme histochemical method weakened and ConA-positive cells were obviously decreased. This suggests that the production of CSP decreased in the same lesion and that disorder of sugar metabolism developed at the corneal epithelium.