title: Cytometric profiles of bone marrow and spleen lymphoid cells after mercury exposure in mice.
abstract: The potential immunotoxic effects of mercury chloride on murine bone marrow (bm) cell subpopulations, including analysis of maturation patterns for B-cells, were evaluated by flow cytometric analysis. CD-1 outbred mice were exposed for 28 days to relatively low doses of 25-100 ppm HgCl2 in drinking water and the mercury-related functional cellular changes were validated in a macrophage phagocytosis assay. Lymphocyte subsets from the bone marrow population were stained with PNA lectin and a panel of monoclonal antibodies against cell surface antigens. The incidence of subset-specific staining was also monitored in spleens and thymuses. A dose-effect correlation was noted for the mercury-related activation of macrophage phagocytosis. Subchronic exposure to mercuric chloride resulted in a transient (7-14 day) decrease of the lymphoid/total bm cell ratio and affected the incidence of splenic T-cell subsets, however, without a clear dose-response correlation. The B-cell population in spleen and maturation patterns of B-cells in bm appeared to be unaffected by the mercury exposure. Overall, cytometric analysis of lymphoid cell subsets in murine bone marrow revealed transient and subset-non-specific cell fluctuations after subchronic exposure to inorganic mercury.
authors.affiliation: Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guertin
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Flipo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fournier
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krzystyniak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000276:immunology*; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D005260:Female; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D008627:Mercuric Chloride / Q000633:toxicity*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D010587:Phagocytosis; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D008627:Mercuric Chloride