Delayed Dermal Hypersensitivity in Mice to Spherule and Mycelial Extracts ofCoccidioides immitis

Abstract

, D. C. SAVAGE, AND LEIGHTON N. L. KONG. Delayed dermal hypersensitivity in mice to spherule and mycelial extracts of Coccidioides immitis. J. Bacteriol. 91:876-883. 1966.-A delayed hypersensitivity reaction to spherule and mycelial extracts of Coccidioides immitis was elicited in the footpads of mice vaccinated with killed spherules. Emulsification of the spherules with Freund's adjuvants was unnecessary, but a high concentration of antigen was required to elicit the reaction. Injection of the extracts produced, initially, a swelling which subsided within 4 hr, and then induration, which began at 6 to 8 hr and reached a maximum at 24 hr. The time course of the reaction corresponded to that of the tuberculin reaction in BCG-vaccinated mice. The histological response to coccidioidal extracts was characterized by the early infiltration of both polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells, and the subsequent predominance of mononuclear cells at 24 to 48 hr. By 72 hr, the mononuclear cells comprised >90% of the cellular infiltrate. Animals infected intranasally with arthrospores (1 to 5 LD15) reacted negatively before and during the crisis period; thereafter (by 28 to 31 days after infection), up to 50% of the survivors showed a delayed reaction.

Phagocytosis and killing of salmonella typhimurium by peritoneal exudate cells

“…In this assay system, we have also observed that there appears to be a T-dependent accumulation of PMNs in the peritoneal cavity 16 to 20 h after the second C. parvum injection. Similar observations have been reported previously in mouse delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions (7,8,16). Although the PMNs that enter the peritoneal cavity may kill some of the injected salmonellae, their influx cannot account for the C.parvum-mediated increase in bacterial killing.…”

Role of Delayed Hypersensitivity in Blastomycosis of Mice

“…Several investigators have reported that mice develop DH to proteins (4), mycobacterial cells (C. M. S. Pass and H. Friedman, Bacteriol. Proc., p. 55, 1965), and fungal antigens (2,6,12). The extent of immunity in systemic fungal diseases may be determined in mice by noting increased survival after challenge with a lethal dose, suppression of fungal dissemination, or modification in the course of reinfection (7).…”

“…Salvin (12) and Box and Briggs (2) have shown that inoculation of sensitized mice with large concentration of Histoplasma capsulatum yeast cells may be fatal within 48 hr. Kong et al (6) have reported that mice immunized with killed spherules of Coccidioides immitis developed DH, as detected by footpad inoculation, to spherulin or mycelial extracts.…”

Immunocompetent cells in resistance to bacterial infections.

“…Other studies demonstrated that both thymus and bone marrow-derived cells are required to reconstitute animals for cell-mediated immune responses (106,152,370), and that expression of delayed hypersensitivity requires both a specific and a nonspecific cell (369). In many spe-cies, the predominant cells seen in delayed-type skin lesions are mononuclear cells, although polymorphonuclear cells are very prevalent in some reactions, for instance in murine skin reactions to polysaccharide antigens (88,184). In vitro evidence reviewed earlier demonstrates that macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes can be target cells for lymphokines produced by lymphocytes.…”