EN
Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) is a T cell-mediated immune reaction that plays a major role in the pathogenesis of various infl ammatory disorders. One of the most characteristic DTH phenomena is contact hypersensitivity (CS) used to assess cellmediated immunity against tumor cells and microbes that survive within macrophages. Recently it was suggested that activation of immune system plays a role in etiology of depression and that antidepressive agents have negative immunoregulatory effects. Our present studies showed that chronic fl uoxetine and desipramine administration signifi cantly inhibited CS reaction to picryl chloride (PCL) in B10.PLwild type mice (by 58% and 48%, respectively, when compared to positive control) and their inhibitory effect was even stronger in TCRd knockout mice. On the other hand in b2m-/- and CD1d-/- mice the prolonged antidepressant administration did not affect CS reaction. PCL sensitization signifi cantly increased spleen weight and proliferative activity of splenocytes in B10PL, TCRd-/- and b2m-/- mice. Prolonged antidepressant treatment attenuated this effect but only in B10PL mice. Presented data might suggest that inhibitory effect of desipramine and fl uoxetine on CS reaction could be caused by their infl uence on CD8+ and NKT regulatory cells that attenuate T cell-mediated immune response.