Antigens injected into the anterior chamber of the eye generate a deviant immune response (Anterior Chamber Associated Immune Deviation--ACAID) characterized by impaired delayed hypersensitivity and lack of complement-fixing antibodies. Both the antigen-containing eye and an intact spleen are required for ACAID induction. The eye's contribution takes the form of an antigen-specific, ACAID-inducing signal associated with blood-borne F4/80+ macrophages. Macrophages capable of carrying an ACAID-inducing signal can be harvested directly from the iris and ciliary body, or can be created by exposing F4/80+ peritoneal exudate cells to aqueous humor or to supernatants of cultured iris and ciliary body cells. In the present study, F4/80-bearing macrophages from the peritoneal cavity were exposed in vitro to supernatants of cultured iris and ciliary body cells and then labelled with PKH-2 prior to intravenous infusion into naive, syngeneic recipients. The pattern of distribution of these cells in spleen, lymph nodes, and blood was compared with similarly labeled cells exposed in vitro to medium alone. The results reveal that, compared to conventional peritoneal exudate cells, macrophages that are endowed with ACAID-inducing properties (by exposure to supernatants of iris and ciliary body cell cultures) preferentially migrate to the spleen following their intravenous inoculation into syngeneic recipients. Moreover, when injected intravenously into asplenic mice, macrophages with ACAID-inducing potential accumulate excessively (compared to their conventional counterparts) in the peripheral blood.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)