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Pavlovian conditioning of immunosuppression modifies adjuvant arthritis in rats
Ten days prior to induction of adjuvant arthritis (by injection of complete Freund's adjuvant into a rat's hind paw), three groups of rats were dosed with cyclophosphamide (CY), an immunosuppressive drug. A saccharin/vanilla solution (SV) was presented either 2 days (Group NC) or immediately before CY treatment (Groups C and C2). Three further SV presentations started either 30 min (Groups C and NC) or 2 days after antigenic stimulation (Group C2). The groups did not differ with respect to the degree of swelling in the injected paws. In contrast, Group C differed significantly from Groups NC and C2 with respect to the uninjected hind paws: Group C showed no external signs of a proliferation of inflammation, whereas approximately half of the animals in the other two groups developed small lesions. A second experiment, similar to the first, yielded the same results. These results essentially confirm previous findings on conditioned immunosuppression and extend them to an inflammatory joint disease.
Ten days prior to induction of adjuvant arthritis (by injection of complete Freund's adjuvant into a rat's hind paw), three groups of rats were dosed with cyclophosphamide (CY), an immunosuppressive drug. A saccharin/vanilla solution (SV) was presented either 2 days (Group NC) or immediately before CY treatment (Groups C and C2). Three further SV presentations started either 30 min (Groups C and NC) or 2 days after antigenic stimulation (Group C2). The groups did not differ with respect to the degree of swelling in the injected paws. In contrast, Group C differed significantly from Groups NC and C2 with respect to the uninjected hind paws: Group C showed no external signs of a proliferation of inflammation, whereas approximately half of the animals in the other two groups developed small lesions. A second experiment, similar to the first, yielded the same results. These results essentially confirm previous findings on conditioned immunosuppression and extend them to an inflammatory joint disease.