The Cellular Transfer of Cutaneous Hypersensitivity to Tuberculin

Abstract

In studies on experimental drug allergy, it has been found that specific hypersensitiveness of the “delayed type” is transferable to normal guinea pigs by means of cells in exudates recovered from sensitized guinea pigs. 1 Resemblances between the delayed type of reaction to drugs and the classical tuberculin reaction have prompted investigation as to whether cells from tuberculin-sensitive animals may likewise transfer tuberculin sensitivity. The experiments show that guinea pigs receiving such cells acquire for a limited time a skin hypersensitivity that exhibits the essential features of the typical tuberculin reaction.

Guinea pigs were rendered hypersensitive to tuberculin by subcutaneous injection of killed human tubercle bacilli suspended in paraffin oil,^2,3 usually mixed with vaseline; each animal received 0.5 to 2.5 mg of dried tubercle bacilli in a total inoculum of 1 cc. Between 5 and 9 weeks later, the cutaneous reactivity to tuberculin then being pronounced, exudates were induced by the intraperitoneal injection of about 28 cc paraffin oil into each of a group of guinea pigs so sensitized. After 48 hours, the peritoneal cavities were washed out with heparinized Tyrode solution containing gelatin or normal guinea pig serum. The washings were combined and the cells recovered from the aqueous layer by minimal centrifugation. The sedimented cells were resuspended in fresh washing fluid by gentle pipetting, and again spun down. A similar washing was made, using Tyrode solution mixed with 1/10 volume of normal guinea pig serum. The washed cells were then suspended in serum-Tyrode and immediately injected into male albino guinea pigs. The yield of cells amounted to 0.1 to 0.15 cc per donor, and recipients were usually given the cells of between 2 and 10 donors. The cells were comprised of 15 to 30% of polymorphonuclear leucocytes, 20 to 35% of lymphocytes, and 50 to 65% of large mononuclear cells.