ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the secretory immune system of the eye, the processes involved in the endocrine control of mucosal immunity. In the secretory immune system, hormones and neuropeptides influence essentially all parameters of immune activity. Immune differences might hypothetically represent a developmental phenomenon evident in young adults, but not necessarily present at earlier or older ages. The regulatory influence of testosterone on the ocular secretory immune system may be unique to the eye. This hypothesis is based upon the observation that endocrine effects on mucosal immunity tend not to be generalized; instead, specific hormones appear to enhance, curtail, or have no action on certain external sites. The sexual dimorphism in the mucosal immune system of the eye may not be entirely due to the effect of androgens. Treatment with androgens, but not other classes of steroid hormones, reverses the orchiectomy effect and restores the lacrimal gland characteristics of "intact" males.
