Immune complex induced vascular reactions in the mouse skin
Sailendri, K.; Muthukkaruppan, V.
Indian Journal of Medical Research 84: 67-73
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-5340 PMID: 2429926 Document Number: 268220
A sensitive bioassay has been developed to study the mechanism of vascular reactions induced by immune complexes in the mouse skin. The antigen-antibody complex was prepared to known antigens, sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and bovine serum albumin (BSA), by incubating them with anti-SRBC and anti-BSA serum raised by BALB/c mice respectively. An aliquot (0.05 ml) of each reaction mixture was injected intradermally at four sites of BALB/c mice. The inner surface of the skin was observed for neovascular responses. The sequence of reactions in the immune complex injected site were (i) reddish appearance and swelling at the injected site on day 2; (ii) yellowish nodule formation on day 5; (iii) appearance of new blood vessels around the nodule on day 8; and (iv) complete regression of pathological reaction by day 15. Histological examination revealed the presence of a thick layer of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) around the injected cells and numerous new blood vessels surrounding the PMN nodule. Cytocentrifuged smear preparations showed that on the day 5, the nodule consisted of more than 95 per cent PMN. The findings demonstrate that this skin test could be developed into a sensitive bioassay to determine the functional significance of the soluble immune complexes in clinical situations. Further, the assay may be a useful model to analyse the mechanism of immune complex induced vascular pathology and to identify the various cellular and humoral components associated with this phenomenon.