• Toxicological Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.175-181
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• 2002

Allergic contact dermatitis (skin sensitization) may be caused by a wide variety of chemicals. A murine local lymph node assay (LLNA) has been developed as an alternative to guinea pig models for assessing the contact sensitization potential of chemical. This study was carried out to evaluate the skin sensitization potential for chemicals in Balb/c mice by LLNA. Contact allergen, dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), respiratory allergen, toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and a weak allergen, $\alpha$-hexlycinnamaldehyde (HCA) were wed as positive chemicals and irritant, sodium lauryl sulfate(SLS) also wed as a reference chemical in this study. The weights of lymph node in the mice treated with DNCB, TDI, and HCA were increased compared to vehicle control. There was a significant increase in lymph node weight of mice treated with high concentration of SLS compared to vehicle control. The stimulation index (SI) of Lymph node cell in the mice treated with DNCB, TDI, and HCA revealed over three-fold increase compared to vehicle control by $3^H$-thymidine uptake. All allergens correctly identified in this LLNA study wing Balb/c mice. These results suggest that LLNA wing Balb/c mice could be a useful method for screening the allergenic potential of chemicals. The expression of IL-2 mRNA was slightly increased in draining auricular lymph node cell of the mice treated with TDI and HCA by RT-PCR. However the IL-2 levels in DNCB and SLS of treated animals were not significantly changed.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2003

Allergic contact dermatitis may be caused by a wide variety of chemicals. A murine local lymph node assay (LLNA) has been developed as an alternative to guinea pig models for assessing the contact sensitization potential of chemical. However, there is a need to develop a nonradioisotopic endpoint for the LLNA, because of the radioisotopic method's requiring the use of special facilities. In this study, we investigated the development of a nonradioisotopic endpoint for LLNA using ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Female Balb/c mice were treated by the topical application on the dorsum of both ears with four different strong sensitizers, 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), oxazolone (OXZ), toluene diisocyanate (TDI), and trimellitic anhydride (TMA), and a strong irritant, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), once daily for three consecutive days. The proliferation of cells in the auricular Iymph node was analyzed by means of the labelling index (Ll) of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation into cells. The weights of the Iymph nodes in the mice treated with allergens, DNCB, OXZ, TDl and TMA were increased compared to the vehicle control. The stimulation index (Sl) of mice treated with DNCB, OXZ, TDl, and TMA was over three-fold increase compared to the vehicle control. However, the S1 of mice exposed to SLS was not significantly increased compared to the vehicle control, while the lymph node weight of SLS was significantly increased. These results suggest that the LLNA modified endpoint using ELISA based on BrdU incorporation could provide a useful method of screening for irritants and allergens.