Duration of Some Cutaneous Hypersensitivities in Mice

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Abstract
Summary: The courses of development, maintenance, and eventual loss of immediate (humoral) and delayed (cellular) skin hypersensitivities in mice to chicken ovalbumin, bovine and human serum albumins, and tuberculoprotein as well as delayed hypersensitivity to 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene were followed. The durations of primary hypersensitivities to the two serum albumins and 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene were easily determined and were similar, extending over approximately 12 to 16 weeks. Decline of primary hypersensitivity to the serum albumins was followed by resurgence of hypersensitivity, apparently as a secondary response to intrinsic antigenic stimulation from the original depots of emulsified antigen. The time spans of primary hypersensitivities to ovalbumin and tuberculoprotein could not be determined, because these hypersensitivities merged with secondary reactivities due to such internal restimulation. Various data obtained suggest that the proteins used can be arranged in the following decreasing order of allergenicity in CF1 mice: ovalbumin, tuberculoprotein, bovine serum albumin, human serum albumin. Distinctions in relative antigenicity were especially obvious in capabilities for inducing delayed hypersensitivity, the last antigen being unable to do so in half the mice tested unless injected in Freund's complete adjuvant. The significance of these findings in the comparative mechanisms of immediate and delayed hypersensitization in mice and guinea pigs is discussed.