Differential effect of footshock stress on humoral and cellular immune responses of the rat

Abstract

Recent, mostly "in vitro", studies indicate that certain stress protocols may affect differentially immune mechanisms. In agreement with these studies, our "in vivo" results show that 4 consecutive days of intermittent footshock, in rats, depressed the primary antibody response, to a thymic dependent antigen, but enhanced the graft-versus-host response and the capacity to reject an inocula of Walker carcinoma cells. Thus it is concluded that footshock stress is capable of oppositely affecting "in vivo" produced humoral and cellular immune responses.