Clinical and Functional Evaluation of Ocular Inflammatory Disease Using the Model of Experimental Autoimmune Uveitis

Non-infections uveitis in humans is an autoimmune disease of the retina and uvea that can be blinding if untreated. Its laboratory equivalent is experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) induced in susceptible rodents by immunization with retinal antigens and described elsewhere in this series (Agarwal et al., Methods Mol Biol, 900:443-469, 2012). Evaluation and quantitation of the disease is usually performed by fundus examination and/or histopathology, which provide limited information on structural and no information on functional changes as disease progresses. Here, we describe methods for systematic evaluation of disease using noninvasive clinical assessments by fundus examination and photography, optical coherence tomography, and functional evaluation by electroretinography, which are then compared to histopathology. Using these methodologies, we demonstrate that clinical variants of disease can be accurately evaluated both clinically and functionally, facilitating longitudinal follow-up and providing information that cannot be obtained by fundoscopy and histology alone. These methodologies can be useful to obtain additional information and to evaluate effects of therapeutic modalities under investigation.