Lack of lipopolysaccharide response of inbred strains of Syrian hamsters.

A variety of culture conditions were used to assess the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) response of spleen cells from several strains of Syrian hamsters. The cells failed to respond to LPS while good responses were obtained with Concanavalin A and poke week mitogen. Stimulation of macrophages with LPS failed to induce tumor cell destruction unless the macrophages were primed by immunization with BCG. The results indicated that hamsters are unresponsive to LPS.