Relation between delayed skin reactivity and macrophage migration inhibition or lymphocyte transformation in tuberculin-type hypersensitivity and Jones-Mote hypersensitivity.

Precise time-course studies on delayed skin reaction, lymphocyte transformation and macrophage migration inhibition were carried out from day 3 to 270 and from day 3 to 120, respectively, in guinea pigs immunized with bovine gamma-globulin (BGG) in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) and those immunized with BGG in incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA). a) Delayed skin reactions could be elicited for a long period of time after immunization with BGG in CFA in the presence of prominent antibody production and were accompanied by induration. b) Delayed reactions could be elicited transiently after immunization with BGG in IFA and were not accompanied by induration. c) At the peak of hypersensitivity, infiltrating cells at the reaction sites were composed largely of mononuclear cells and basophils, respectively, in the animals immunized with BGG and CFA and those immunized with BGG in IFA. d) Uptake of 3H-thymidine by lymphocytes was increased remarkably in the presence of BGG when cells were obtained at early stages after immunization by both methods. e) Macrophage migration inhibition was strongly positive in animals immunized with BGG in CFA but weakly positive in those immunized with BGG in IFA. Increased lymphocyte transformation preceded the appearance of positive migration inhibition. f) After immunization with BGG in CFA, Jones-Mote hypersensitivity appeared to precede the development of tuberculin-type hypersensitivity.