Neuroimmunomodulation and Immune Privilege: The Role of Neuropeptides in Ocular Immunosuppression

Abstract

Regional immunoregulatory mechanisms insure that the most effective immune defense mounted is in proportion with preserving unique tissue functionalities. Immune-privileged tissues, such as the eye, are tissue sites of extreme regional immunoregulation. They have evolutionarily adapted several mechanisms to prevent the induction of inflammation within their tissue microenvironment. With over half a century of experimental examinations of ocular immune privilege, only recently have we come to understand that neuropeptides constitutively present in ocular tissues are part of the mechanisms of immune privilege.

Part of CIRS Nexus · Curated by Lauren Lowenstein, The Biotoxin Lady