Impaired autonomic responsiveness of the cardiovascular system of the rat induced by a heat-labile component of Bordetella pertussis vaccine.

Bordetella pertussis vaccination induces severe impairment of the autonomic responsiveness of the cardiovascular system in rats. The vasodilation after beta 2-adrenoceptor stimulation with salbutamol as well as the negative chronotropic action induced by the muscarinic receptor stimulant arecoline were inhibited 4 days after vaccination. Moreover, basal blood pressure values appeared to be significantly lower in B. pertussis-vaccinated rats compared with control animals. These effects were dependent upon the bacterial strain used. Differences in pharmacological activity due to strain differences paralleled variations in the content of lymphocytosis-promoting factor of the vaccine. The inhibitory effects were absent after the administration of vaccine heated for 1 h at 80 degrees C, implicating an important role for a heat-labile component, e.g., lymphocytosis-promoting factor, and not for a heat-stable constituent, e.g., endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide). Previous studies indicate that some early biological effects elicited by B. pertussis vaccine can be attributed to lipopolysaccharide, whereas late induced effects are mainly brought about by lymphocytosis-promoting factor. For that reason a role for lipopolysaccharide might be excluded because 5 h after vaccination no disturbances of the autonomic nervous system were observed. We conclude that B. pertussis vaccination induces autonomic hyporesponsiveness due to a heat-labile component that is assumed to be lymphocytosis-promoting factor.