title: Adjuvant effect of Loxosceles gaucho (South American brown spider) venom.
abstract: Injection of L. gaucho venom and antigens (ovalbumin, ovomucoid and bovine gamma globulin) into rabbit skin induced an intense local inflammatory lesion and resulted in a significant increase in the level of IgG antibodies to the antigen in both the primary and secondary humoral immune response. The adjuvant activity of the venom was associated with its high mol. wt components, which are responsible for the inflammatory lesion. Rabbits rendered unresponsive to the venom and injected with venom plus antigen presented a very mild local inflammatory reaction and no increase in antibody formation. When venom and antigen were injected simultaneously but at different skin sites no adjuvant effect was induced. However, when antigen was injected 4 hr after venom injection but at the same skin site a significant adjuvant effect was produced. Furthermore, when venom plus antigen was injected intradermally into mice, a species in which the venom does not cause an inflammatory skin lesion, no adjuvant effect was detected. It is suggested that the adjuvant effect of L. gaucho venom in rabbits is probably due to its ability to cause a local severe inflammatory reaction.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Imunopatologia, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Barbaro
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Eickstedt
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mota
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000276:immunology; D010059:Ovomucin / Q000276:immunology; D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011817:Rabbits; D013111:Spider Venoms / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005719:gamma-Globulins / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D013111:Spider Venoms; D005719:gamma-Globulins; C055161:loxosceles venom; D010059:Ovomucin; D010047:Ovalbumin; D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases