Further Immunologic Studies of Adjuvant Disease in the Rat

Abstract

Adjuvant induced arthritis was produced by foot-pad injections of either mycobacteria or Nocardia asteroides in oil. Delayed skin reactivity to tuberculin paralleled the onset and severity of the primary attack following sensitization with mycobacteria. Anti-bacillary antibody could not be demonstrated and serum complement levels remained unchanged or increased at this time. The secondary attack of disease, following adjuvant reinjection, had an accelerated onset but was milder and more transient than the primary; tuberculin sensitivity was not correlated with this phase. The location of active joint lesions suggested both early reactivation of previously involved sites and later transient involvement of new joints. When the heterologous organism was used in the second injection the second attack, although somewhat accelerated, was more severe and prolonged, resembling a primary attack. Foot-pad injection of either organism in oil into neonatal rats or intraperitoneal injection of mycobacteria in saline in adult rats inhibited the development of arthritis following a subsequent foot-pad injection of either the homologous or heterologous organism in oil.