Polyclonal effect of HgCl2 in the rat, its possible role in an experimental autoimmune disease.
Mercuric chloride induces an autoimmune glomerulonephritis in Brown-Norway (BN) but not in Lewis (LEW) rats. Injection of HGCl2 into BN rats regularly produced a transient appearance of plaque-forming cells (PFC) of anti-2,4,6-trinitrophenyl and anti-sheep red blood cell specificity and circulating anti-single-stranded DNA antibodies. Addition of HgCl2 to spleen cell cultures from BN rats induced an increase in anti-trinitrophenyl PFC and reverse PFC. This effect was no longer observed when nylon wool column-depleted or anti-Thy-1 antiserum-treated spleen cells were cultured in the presence of HgCl1. These data suggest that HgCl2 acts as a polyclonal activator on spleen cells in BN rats, but not on isolated B lymphocytes. In contrast, no effect of HgCl2 on immunoglobulin production was observed in LEW rats. Since polyclonal activation and immune-type nephritis are both seen in BN but not in LEW rats, polyclonal activation may participate in the pathogenesis of the HgCl2-induced autoimmune disease of BN rats.
D000818:Animals; D000921:Antibody-Producing Cells / Q000276:immunology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000276:immunology; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005921:Glomerulonephritis / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000276:immunology; D006462:Hemolytic Plaque Technique; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D008627:Mercuric Chloride; D008628:Mercury / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew
D001323:Autoantibodies; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D008627:Mercuric Chloride; D008628:Mercury