DELAYED CONTACT HYPERSENSITIVITY IN THE GUINEA PIG.

Detection of delayed contact sensitizers has been dependent upon the use of a repeated insult patch test on human subjects, since it has been generally recognized that the guinea pig, when utilized as a test animal, frequently gives false-negative results. The experimental approaches using the guinea pig, however, have been restricted to intradermal injections and topical applications. Since the closed or occlusive patch provides acceptably exaggerated conditions for human studies, this technique was applied to guinea pigs. Results indicate that use of the closed patch on the guinea pig results in a much more sensitive tool which could be of value not only for the routine detection of potential sensitizers, but could serve as the ideal model system for the investigation of delayed contact hypersensitivity.