Cell-mediated and humoral immune responses in mice. II. Sensitizing conditions for delayed-type hypersensitivity.

Conditions for the induction of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) in mice to serum proteins ware studied. DTH to bovine serum albumin (BSA) was induced by a subcutaneous immunizaiton with the antigen emulsified with Freund's complete adjuvant. The level of DTH was found to be dempendent not only on the dose of antigen but also on the amount of mycobacteria included in the adjuvant. DTH to other serum proteins was also induced under the same sensitizing conditions as for BSA. Success in the adoptive transfer with lymphoie cells and suppressive effect of anti-thymocyte serum indicated that delayed-type reaction studied here was the manifestation of cell-mediated immunity.