Evaluation of auricular lymph node cell lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine production as non-radioactive endpoints during murine contact allergy

The murine local lymph node assay (LLNA) has been developed as a test method to assess allergic contact dermatitis. In spite of the validity of the LLNA, attention was drawn to the two disadvantages: use of radioactivity for in vivo measurement of lymph node cell proliferation ([ 1, the applied concentrations of DNCB caused only allergic effect but not any irritant effect. This study reports that the use of these non-radioactive endpoints can assess allergic contact dermatitis caused by chemicals.