Modulatory effect of zinc on the proliferative response of murine spleen cells to polyclonal T cell mitogens

• Published in: Cellular immunology Vol. 89; no. 2; pp. 322 - 330
• Main Authors: MALAVE, I, RONDON BENAIM, I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.01.1984; Elsevier
• Subjects: Analysis of the immune response. Humoral and cellular immunity; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cells, Cultured; Chlorides; Concanavalin A; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Immunobiology; Kinetics; Lymphocyte Activation - drug effects; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains; Organs and cells involved in the immune response; Phytohemagglutinins; Spleen - immunology; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Zinc - pharmacology; Zinc Compounds; Cell proliferation; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Mouse; Modulation; Rodentia; Mitogen; Splenocyte; Phytohemagglutinin; Concanavalin A; Lymphocyte; Zinc
• ISSN: 0008-8749; 1090-2163
• DOI: 10.1016/0008-8749(84)90334-4

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 ZnCl 2 and stimulated with graded doses of concanavalin A or phytohemagglutinin. Addition of 10 −4 M ZnCl 2 inhibited proliferation whereas 10 −5 to 10 −6 M ZnCl 2 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 μg/ml of concanavalin A and 10 or 25 μl/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 ZnCl 2 did not enhance the response to mitogen of spleen cells from high responder BALB/c mice. The enhancing effects of ZnCl 2 on the proliferative response of C57BL/6 cells were not observed following depletion of adherent cells or in cultures supplemented with 5 × 10 −5 M 2-mercaptoethanol, both conditions capable of abrogating the inhibitory effect of high mitogen doses on the response of C57BL/6 cells.