Polypeptide profiles of normal and inflamed rabbit aqueous humor: identification of catabolic products of immunoglobulin G in the normal eye.

The anterior segment of the eye is isolated from the bloodstream by anatomic barriers. These barriers break down during inflammation elicited by muramyl dipeptide (MDP), a component of the cell walls of bacteria. The protein composition of normal aqueous humor and inflamed aqueous were characterized using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblotting. The presence of transferrin, albumin, IgG and IgM were demonstrated in normal and inflamed aqueous. Normal aqueous additionally contained seven polypeptides (35, 31, 29, 25, 22, 21 and 19 kDa, respectively) that were not observed in inflamed aqueous. Four of these peptides (31, 29, 25 and 19 kDa) were identified as fragments of IgG heavy chains based on their reactivity with anti-IgG antibodies and staphylococcal protein A. Immunoglobulin catabolism has been noted to occur in tissues diffusely throughout the body; this is the first report of it occurring in the eye. This phenomenon appears to be circumvented on breakdown of the blood-aqueous barrier. These observations may relate to the immunoprivilege of the eye and its modulation in inflammation.