Conditioned immunosuppressive effect of cyclophosphamide on delayed-type hypersensitivity response and a preliminary analysis of its mechanism.

In the present study, camphor odor and intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of cyclophosphamide (CY) were used as conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US), respectively. In the unconditioned group, mice were exposed to camphor odor for 1 h followed by an i.p. injection of CY (75 mg/kg). On the next day, the above CS/US association trial session was repeated followed by smearing dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) on mouse abdominal skin for sensitizing the animal for delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response. Five days after DNCB sensitization, mice were exposed to camphor odor (1 h), followed by an i.p. injection of CY, and then DNCB was smeared on the left ear of mice for the challenge of DTH response. Both the left/right ear weight ratio and the activity of leukocyte migration inhibitory factor (LMIF) were used as the index of DTH response, which was done 24 h after DNCB challenge. In the conditioned group, the treatment was the same as that in the unconditioned group, except that normal saline was injected on day 5 instead of CY. Furthermore, in order to analyze the mechanism of the conditioned response (CR), the mouse serum from the conditioned group (CR serum) was injected into normal mice 6 h prior to DNCB challenge. Results showed that in the conditioned group, left/right ear weight ratio and LMIF activity were statistically lower than that in the DTH group, and there was no difference between conditioned and unconditioned groups. Thus, an animal model of conditioned immunosuppressive response had been established. The results also showed that after CR serum was injected into normal mice, DTH response was also significantly suppressed. However, if CR serum was treated with dialysis (10,000 molecular weight cut-off), the suppressive effect of CR serum on DTH response disappeared. Taken together, the data suggested that a chemical compound(s) in serum, with a molecular weight less than 10,000, was important in mediating the conditioned immunosuppressive response. This may be a very important molecule(s) that could be very critical to our understanding of the interaction between the central nervous system and immune function.