Antigen-specific immune response in the inner ear.

The specificity of inner ear immune responses was investigated by challenging each inner ear of presensitized animals with different antigens. Animals presensitized systemically with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were challenged with KLH in the right and BSA in the left inner ears. Two weeks later perilymph anti-KLH levels were increased significantly in the right inner ears compared to the levels in the left inner ears. In contrast, perilymph anti-BSA levels were increased significantly in the left inner ears compared to the levels in the right inner ears. These results suggested that the rise in perilymph antibody following inner ear antigen challenge was predominantly the result of an antigen-specific immune response in the inner ear and not simply the result of an increase in vascular permeability of serum contamination from the experimental procedure itself.