Experimental models of autoimmune inflammatory ocular diseases Modelos experimentais para o estudo de doenças inflamatórias oculares autoimunes

The first descriptions of ocular inflammation date back to 1500 BC (Ebers’s papyrus) . The term uveitis was first used to characterize any type of intraocular inflammation with non-infectious etiology. Au toimmune uveitis is a constant challenge for researchers due to its variable clinical presentation, evolution, recurrence rates, and etio logy, which is still not completely understood. Uveitis is classified as autoimmune according to clinical criteria. Basically, non-infectious intraocular inflammation that presents good response to anti-inflammatory drugs is classified as autoimmune. In some cases, an association with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules can be found. In order to understand the pathophysiology of autoimmune uvei tis and develop new therapies, it is important to identify the pos sible antigens involved in the disease. The use of experimental models is important as there are many difficulties involved in getting intraocular tissue from patients’ eyes, including technical and ethical issues. Experimental models are important for the development of new therapeutic agents as they are useful to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of systemic and intravitreous drug delivery, such as antibiotics, corticosteroids, immunosuppressive drugs, and more recently anti-VEGF, and biological agents (e.g., tacrolimus, sirolimus, etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, and rituximab). The aim of this paper is to review the most used experimental autoimmune ocular inflammatory diseases models used in Ophthalmology and their most important aspects.