Delayed type hypersensitivity for penicillin in mice. I. Induction and characterization of delayed type...

The delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) for benzylpenicilloyl (BPO) group was observed in the footpad swelling reaction (FSR) in mice. Mice were subcutaneously immunized with 300 microgram of BPO-human serum albumin (HSA) conjugate and Freund's complete adjuvant and challenged into footpads with 25 microgram of BPO-bovine gamma globulin (BGG) conjugate 2 weeks after the immunization. The strongest FSR was observed 24 hours after the challenge. This FSR was typical DTH. Namely, the kinetics of FSR and the histological study showed the pattern of the DTH. Furthermore, the FSR could be transferred to normal syngenic mice by transfer of antigen-primed spleen cells and could not be transferred by anti-Thy-1,2-serum treated cells. The DTH for BPO was observed on day 4 after the immunization and reached the maximum on day 11 to 14. Thereafter, the DTH for BPO decreased gradually in proportion as the IgG antibodies for BPO were produced. C57BL/6 and C3H/He mice high responders, A/J mice moderate, and BALB/c and DBA/2 mice were low responders. Penicillins were broad cross-reactive in FSR and its desensitization test because the DTH for penicillins contained the common reactivity for the penicilloyl moiety. The DTH for BPO was suppressed by intravenous preadministration of HSA and this suppression was sensitive to cyclophosphamide.