Dynamics and Quantitative Analysis of Passively Transferred Tuberculin Hypersensitivity

Abstract

Tuberculin sensitivity in guinea pigs was transferred by intravenous injection of H³-thymidine-labeled sensitized lymphoid cells. PPD and mineral oil were administered at the same time to elicit specific and nonspecific lesions. From 6 to 70 hr later, the skin sites were removed and the total radioactivity of the lesions counted. Radioactivity increased to a peak in the PPD skin sites at 18 to 24 hr and declined over the next 2 days. In the control sites and in untreated skin, radioactivity was low or negligible throughout the period of observation. From these data and observations made in previous autoradiographic studies, the skin lesions of tuberculin sensitivity were shown to be composed of two concurrent processes; one, an accumulation of sensitized cells apparently in response to specific antigen; and two, an infiltration of mononuclear cells contributed by the host, probably as a response to injury. The absolute numbers of cells contributed by donor and host were also calculated. Less than 1% of transferred sensitized cells arrived at the site of antigen deposition and contributed a minor proportion of all the infiltrating mononuclear elements in the test lesion.