Assay of cellular immune responses in rabbits sensitized to retinal antigens

Cellular immune responses in retinal autoimmunity have scarcely been studied in rabbits. An effective isolation of rabbit peripheral blood lymphocytes is difficult to achieve and requires specific conditions. This hampers especially the assay of antigen-induced lymphocyte transformation. We have improved the lymphocyte isolation technique, resulting in consistent recoveries of 65-75% and enabling longitudinal studies of immunopathological conditions in rabbits. The technique was incorporated in a routine version of the lymphocyte transformation test, which has been optimized with respect to culture conditions and retinal antigen concentrations.