Transient dietary hypersensitivity in mice and pigs.

Abstract

In recent years, attention has focused upon the development of immune exclusion and oral tolerance as mechanisms that regulate and prevent damaging hypersensitivity reactions to dietary antigens. The significance of failure to develop these processes have similarly been investigated, it having been establshed that in the “mature response” to dietary antigens, local mucosal humoral immunity may co-exist with systemic tolerance, while both compartments of the cell mediated response are suppressed (1). It has long been known that following the introduction of a new dietary antigen, a transient serum response (2) may be induced; it is perhaps surprising, therefore, that the immunopathological significance of this early response to fed antigens has received little attention. Cell mediated responses may also be generated following feeding a wide range of antigens, including sheep red blood cells (SRBC) (3), ovalbumin (4) and contact sensitizing agents (5), as well as a wide range of infectious agents (6). In this study, we have induced transient cell mediated immune responses following feeding dietary antigens and determined the influence of “adjuvants” upon tolerance induction. The immunopathological consequence of this allergic response has been investigated in both mice and pigs.