Sensitization, Immunological Tolerance and Desensitization of Guinea Pigs to Neoarsphenamine I.

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Abstract
Single or repeated intradermal injections of 150 [mu]g neoarsphenamine (NEO) induced in guinea pigs a long lasting, specific, delayed-type hypersensitivity. Three patterns of immune response have been encountered early sensitization (apparent 3 to 4 weeks after a single injection), ''slow'' sensitization (requiring several injections over several months) and absence of apparent sensitization (over a 1 to 2 years'' period). Despite identical sensitization technique and sufficient allergen dosage, the relative frequencies of these different responses have been found to vary according to the lot of NEO used and to dietetic factors which are apparently the most influential when relatively weak sensitizers such as NEO are used. No differences have been observed among various lots of NEO concerning systemic toxicity, primary skin toxicity or ability to elicit allergic skin reactions in sensitized animals and some physicochemical properties examined which could explain their different sensitizing capacity. The occurrence of ''slow'' sensitization pattern emphasizes that short sensitization and observation periods may be inadequate when the immunogenicity of a compound supposed to be antigenic or the ability of an experimental animal to respond to a sensitizing stimulus is the problem under study.