Local passive transfer of delayed type hypersensitivity to syngeneic testicular cells in mice

A means for local passive transfer (LPT) of delayed footpad reaction (DFR) against syngeneic testicular cells (TC) was established in mice. Peritoneal exudate (PE) cells from immunized donors pre-treated with cyclophosphamide (Cy) were transferred with syngeneic TC into a hind footpad of a naive mouse. Antigen specific DFR was successfully transferred by PE cells as early as 3-5 days after immunization and as late as 39 days after immunization. DFR was abolished after treatment of PE cells with anti-0 serum, indicating T cell dependence. No footpad reaction can be elicited in male mice immunized with syngeneic TC without Cy pre-treatment. However, PE cells of those mice can passively transfer footpad reaction locally, suggesting the existence of suppressive mechanism in the donors. Although no suppressive mechanism was disclosed at the present, this LPT system seems a potent tool for further analysis of the regulatory mechanisms.