Time course of immigration of immature DCs into hapten-challenged ears in an evolving allergic contact hypersensitivity reaction.
51Cr-labeled DCs from untreated donor Balb/c mice were injected into the tail vein of differentially treated recipients of the same strain. After 6 hours mice were killed and the accumulation of radioactivity in organs was measured in a γ counter. Y-axis (percent of cpm) refers to radioactivity in the ear with respect to the radioactivity of all harvested organs set as 100%. Recipient mice were sensitized on the shaved abdomen (+) or left untreated (−) as indicated. Seven days later, one ear was challenged with hapten (+) 2, 6, or 24 hours before injection of DCs. The untreated ears from sensitized mice served as negative controls (−) and are shown in the first column of each set. The hatched bars represent measured radioactivity in sensitized and challenged ears. Specific homing to hapten-challenged ears was statistically significant at 6 and 24 hours (P < .001).
