Stress-Induced Alterations in Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity to SRBC and Contact Sensitivity to DNFB in Mice 1 2

Abstract

Abstract

Several experiments were conducted to evaluate the influence of environmental stressors on in vivo cell-mediated immune events in mice. Three stressors were studied: immobilization, heat, and cold. Contact sensitivity reactions to 2,4-dinitro-l-fluorobenzene were enhanced by stress, regardless of the type of stressor that was employed. Enhanced responses occurred when stress was administered at either the induction or expression of contact reactions. The effect of stress on delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions to sheep erythrocytes was more complex. Footpad swelling that was induced by sheep red blood cells was enhanced by heat stress and suppressed by immobilization. Cold stress was shown to either enhance or suppress this delayed-type hypersensitivity response, an effect which depended on the timing of stress relative to the induction and expression of the cell-mediated immune reaction. These data demonstrate that environmental stressors alter regulatory events that control the induction and expression of cell-mediated immune reactions in mice. These results also show that a single stressor can either enhance or suppress cell-mediated immune events, an effect which probably depends on the type of regulatory cell that controls a given T-cell response.