Systemic effects of methylcholanthrene in mice. I. Splenic and hepatic phagocytosis of xenogeneic red cells.
Male and female mice of strains C3H/eB and C57BL/6 were injected subcutaneously with methylcholanthrene (MCA) dissolved in olive oil; mice injected with olive oil served as controls. After intervals of from 2 to 13 weeks, experimental and control mice were injected intraperitoneally with 51Cr-labeled rat red cells (RRC) and killed 24 h later. Radioactivity assayed in spleen and liver and expressed as percent of total-body radioactivity served as indicator of phagocytic uptake. Significant decreases in splenic and, to a lesser extent, hepatic phagocytosis were observed at some time intervals in all strain-sex combinations, except for female C57BL/6 mice. The phagocytic activity of untreated C57BL/6 mice exceeded that of C3H/eB mice. Phagocytosis was greater in female than in male C3H/eB mice. In the experimental design employed, no direct correlation was apparent between impairment of phagocytosis and resistance to carcinogenesis.
D000818:Animals; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008748:Methylcholanthrene / Q000633:toxicity*; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D013154:Spleen / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
D008748:Methylcholanthrene