Effects of taste aversion conditioning on the primary antibody response to sheep red blood cells and Brucella abortus in the albino rat

It has been shown that use of the saccharin/cyclophosphamide taste aversion paradigm produced conditioned immunosuppression as well as saccharin avoidance after two post-conditioning exposures to the aversive stimulus 3,18]. In the present study the effects of saccharin/cyclophosphamide conditioning on the primary humoral antibody response to two antigens: sheep red blood cells (SRBC), a T-cell dependent antigen and Brucella abortus (B. abortus), a T-cell independent antigen, were examined. In addition the effects of a third exposure to the aversive stimulus, saccharin, on conditioned immunosuppression were examined. The results indicate that the target cell of taste aversion conditioning, in relation to immune dysfunction, could be the T-lymphocyte and that conditioned immunosuppression is dependent on the presence of the behavioral response. These results constitute a replication of previous studies 3,18] and provide evidence which indicates that behaviorally conditioned immunosuppression is a consequence of the parameters of taste aversion conditioning.