The eye is a sensory organ exposed to the environment and protected by a mucosal tissue barrier. While it shares a number of features with other mucosal tissues, the ocular mucosal system, composed of the conjunctiva, Meibomian glands, and lacrimal glands, is specialized to address the unique needs of (a) lubrication and (b) host defense of the ocular surface. Not surprisingly, most challenges, physical and immunological, to the homeostasis of the eye fall into those two categories. Dry eye, a dysfunction of the lacrimal glands and/or Meibomian glands, which can both cause, or arise from, sensory defects, including those caused by corneal herpes virus infection, serve as examples of these perturbations and will be discussed ahead. To preserve vision, dense neuronal and immune networks sense various stimuli and orchestrate responses, which must be tightly controlled to provide protection, while simultaneously minimizing collateral damage. All this happens against the backdrop of, and can be modified by, the microorganisms that colonize the ocular mucosa long term, or that are simply transient passengers introduced from the environment. This review will attempt to synthesize the existing knowledge and develop trends in the study of the unique mucosal and immune elements of the ocular surface.

眼睛是暴露在环境中并受粘膜组织屏障保护的感觉器官。虽然它与其他粘膜组织具有许多特征，但由结膜、睑板腺和泪腺组成的眼粘膜系统专门用于满足 (a) 润滑和 (b) 眼部宿主防御的独特需求表面。毫不奇怪，大多数对眼睛稳态的物理和免疫挑战都属于这两类。干眼症是泪腺和/或睑板腺的功能障碍，可引起或起因于感觉缺陷，包括由角膜疱疹病毒感染引起的感觉缺陷，作为这些扰动的例子，将在前面讨论。为了保持视力，密集的神经元和免疫网络感知各种刺激并协调反应，必须严格控制以提供保护，同时尽量减少附带损害。所有这一切都发生在长期定殖于眼粘膜的微生物的背景下，并且可以被微生物改变，或者仅仅是从环境中引入的短暂乘客。本综述将尝试综合现有知识并发展眼表独特粘膜和免疫成分研究的趋势。