title: Modulatory effect of zinc on the proliferative response of murine spleen cells to polyclonal T cell mitogens.
abstract: To study the effect of zinc on the proliferative response to polyclonal T cell mitogens, spleen cells from C57BL/6 mice were cultured with or without ZnCl2 and stimulated with graded doses of concanavalin A or phytohemagglutinin. Addition of 10(-4) M ZnCl2 inhibited proliferation whereas 10(-5) to 10(-6) M ZnCl2 did not modify the response to suboptimal doses of mitogen but increased DNA synthesis in cultures stimulated with high doses of mitogen (10 or 20 micrograms/ml of concanavalin A and 10 or 25 microliters/ml of phytohemagglutinin) which are supraoptimal for C57BL/6 mice, and inhibited proliferation in cultures of spleen cells from animals of this strain, low responder to T cell mitogens. In contrast, supplementation with ZnCl2 did not enhance the response to mitogen of spleen cells from high responder BALB/c mice. The enhancing effects of ZnCl2 on the proliferative response of C57BL/6 cells were not observed following depletion of adherent cells or in cultures supplemented with 5 X 10(-5) M 2-mercaptoethanol, both conditions capable of abrogating the inhibitory effect of high mitogen doses on the response of C57BL/6 cells.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002712:Chlorides; D003208:Concanavalin A; D007700:Kinetics; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D015032:Zinc / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017967:Zinc Compounds
chemical_list: D002712:Chlorides; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; D017967:Zinc Compounds; D003208:Concanavalin A; C016837:zinc chloride; D015032:Zinc