Abstract
Summary
Mice were injected with an emulsion of ethyl stearate and saline and then challenged with sheep erythrocytes to test their ability to produce specific antibody. Treatment of animals 1 day prior to immunization resulted in a significant decrease in the number of antibody plaqueforming cells to sheep erythrocytes, as compared to control animals. There was approximately a 60-70% decrease in the number of antibody-forming cells on Day 4, or the peak day, after immunization in such treated animals. The immunosuppression was also observable during the first 3 days after immunization, with a maximum depression on Day 3. By Day 5 to 7 after immunization there was less difference between the number of antibody-forming cells in treated and control animals. Multiple daily injections of the emulsion, starting 1 day before immunization, resulted in little additional immunosuppression over that induced by a single injection. Daily multiple injections starting 1 day after immunization resulted in an enhancement of the antibody-plaque response.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.