PHARMACOLOGIC CONTROL OF HORMONALLY MODULATED IMMUNE-RESPONSE .3. PROLONGATION OF ALLOGENEIC SKIN-GRAFT REJECTION AND PREVENTION OF RUNT DISEASE BY A COMBINATION OF DRUGS ACTING ON NEUROENDOCRINE FUNCTIONS

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 120  (5) , 1600-1603
Abstract
A recently developed pharmacologic means for suppressing acquired immunity by drugs [L-5-hydroxytryptophan, dopamine, phentolamine, propranolol, cyproheptadine, antazoline, phenindamine, cimetidine, isoproterenol, haloperidol, parachlorophenylalanine, methyl-dopamine, reserpine, valium, librium, laroxyl and taractan] acting on neuroendocrine regulation was applied to transplantation immune reactions. A number of drugs were tested singly and in combination for their capacity to suppress the immune response of mice grafted with allogeneic skin. Another model involved newborn F1 hybrid recipients inoculated with spleen cells from donors of parental strains that were specifically unresponsive by drug and alloantigen treatment. These procedures led to the identification of a combination of 4 drugs that induced a remarkable delay in allograft rejection and a prolonged unresponsiveness to alloantigens. This combination of drugs also abrogated the graft-vs.-host-runting syndrome in newborn hybrid recipients.