Comparison of popliteal lymph node responses in various strains of rats

Outbred (namely Wistar and Sprague-Dawley) and inbred (Wistar-Furth, Lewis, Fisher 344 and Brown-Norway) strains of rats were screened for their responses to reference compounds in the popliteal lymph node (PLN) assay. Streptozotocin and diphenylhydantoin gave positive responses as evidenced by increased weight and cellularity indices in all strains used whereas procainamide, isoniazid and barbital consistently gave negative responses. Although these findings overall are in agreement with previous investigations involving these compounds, the lack of marked interstrain differences in PLN responses argues against a strong immunogenetically controlled mechanism as could be assumed in presumably auto-immune reactions. The question is raised whether drug-induced side-effects predicted by the PLN assay are basically non-autoimmune as suggested by clinical and immunological findings in man.