Depression of immunological responses due to surgery. A model in the guinea-pig.

The responses of guinea-pigs to in vivo sensitization immediately following cholecystectomy (as a standard surgical procedure) are significantly depressed. Generation of memory function on stimulation with sheep erythrocytes is radically impaired; the effect is also more marked in primary delayed hypersensitivity and thymus-dependent antibody responses than in the response to pneumococcal polysaccharide. Normal lymphocyte transfer tests using operated animals as recipients or donors are not depressed. The evidence is suggestive of dysfunction in the amplification or co-operative stages of immune responses in the early post-operative period.