Application of Concanavalin A during immune responsiveness skin-swelling tests facilitates measurement interpretation in mammalian ecology

0461399 - ÚBO 2017 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Bílková, B. - Albrecht, Tomáš - Chudíčková, Milada - Holáň, Vladimír - Piálek, Jaroslav - Vinkler, M.
Application of Concanavalin A during immune responsiveness skin-swelling tests facilitates measurement interpretation in mammalian ecology.
Ecology and Evolution. Roč. 6, č. 13 (2016), s. 4551-4564. ISSN 2045-7758. E-ISSN 2045-7758
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA206/08/0640; GA ČR GA15-11782S
Institutional support: RVO:68081766 ; RVO:68378041
Keywords : Concanavalin A * cytokine * ecoimmunology * evolutionary immunology * field immunoecological research * histology * leucocytes * PHA-induced hypersensitivity * phytohemagglutinin * T-cell-mediated immunocompetence
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 2.440, year: 2016

The skin-swelling test is a simple and widespread method used in field ecological research to estimate cellular immune responsiveness in animals. This immunoecological test is based on measuring the magnitude of tissue swelling response at specific times following subcutaneous application of an experimental pro-inflammatory stimulant. In the vast majority of studies across vertebrate taxa, phytohemagglutinin (PHA) is used as a universal stimulant. Given the complexity of immune response activation pathways of PHA, however, interpretation of test results can be ambiguous. The goal of this study was to improve methodology of the skin-swelling test. Based on previous evidence suggesting that mammalian T cells are readily activated by Concanavalin A (ConA) in vitro, we compared cellular immune responses in vivo to PHA and ConA as an alternative proinflammatory stimulant in mice. Our results corroborate that PHA and ConA show important differences in both dynamics and response amplitude in rodents. ConA induces stronger swelling with a distinct leukocyte activity pattern and higher proinflammatory cytokine and interferon gamma expression than PHA during peak response. We conclude that ConA is the more suitable stimulant for skin-swelling tests in mammals.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0261000