Humoral Factors of Immunity in Adrenalectomized and Non-Operated Guinea Pigs in a State of Delayed Hypersensitivity

Adrenalectomy alters immunological reactivity of the organism which, leads to a decrease in the circulating antibody level. It was demonstrated in previously published investigations that adrenalectomy intensified the delayed type hypersensitivity reaction (DHR). In animals with symptoms of cellular immunity, particularly with the DHR, antibodies to the sensitizing agent may appear. Their appearance at the early stages of the DHR development is due to immunological suppression. At the same time the formation of circulating antibodies accompanies transition of delayed hypersensitivity. The report clarifies how adrenalectomy affects titers of antibodies to the agent used for the sensitization and to the additional antigen, which differs from the first one both in its chemical structure and in dispersion. Edited trans. of Fiziologichnyi Zhurnal (USSR) v18 n3 p327-331 1972.