Abstract
Summary
Delayed hypersensitivity reactions were produced in the skin and striated muscle of guinea pigs sensitized to ferritin, vaccinia virus, or tuberculin. Biopsies of the lesions were examined with the electron microscope in an effort to determine the localization of these antigens at the site of tissue reactivity. Neither ferritin nor vaccinia virus, both of which have a characteristic appearance in the electron microscope, could be identified within the mononuclear cells which form the predominant and characteristic cell of the delayed reaction. Although these cells often showed degenerative changes in the ferritin and vaccinia lesions, such alterations were rare in the tuberculin lesions and there was no association of antigen with the degenerating cells. These observations suggest that frequent direct anatomical interactions between specific antigen and sensitized cell do not occur in delayed hypersensitivity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.