Immunomodulation of cell-mediated immunity was studied in mice treated with either lithium chloride (LiCl), anti-CD8 monoclonal antibody or their combination. While 6-day LiCl treatment decreased the ability of their splenocytes to induce a local graft-versus-host reaction--anti-CD8 abolished this effect. The proliferative response of spleen cells from those three groups of mice to concanavalin A stimulation in vitro was significantly increased. The natural killer (NK) cell toxicity of the mice was decreased by over 43% after the 6-day LiCl treatment, but was x 2.5 higher then the control value after a longer 21-d treatment. These results indicate that the immunomodulatory capacity of lithium is dependent on the type of cell population studied, and on the schedule of administration.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of repeated desipramine and fluoxetine administration on post-adjuvant arthritis.

The effects of desipramine and fluoxetine on the swelling of hind paws, radiologically-detectable bone destruction of hind paws, increase in spleen and popliteal lymph node weight, increase in metabolic activity of splenocytes and increase in proliferative activity of splenocytes and popliteal lymph node cells from right adjuvant injected paw in male C57BL/6 mice were studied on the 17th day after induction of post-adjuvant arthritis. Drugs were administered once-daily ip at a dose of 10 mg/kg. Fourteen days of desipramine administration, starting on the third day after injection of the adjuvant, significantly increased edema and radiologically assessed bone destruction, spleen and popliteal lymph node weight whereas fluoxetine induced an opposite effect, but it did not reduce edema in comparison with saline-treated control. Two-week desipramine administration significantly increased metabolic activity of splenocytes and proliferative activity of popliteal lymph node cells from the right adjuvant-injected paw, whereas 14 days of fluoxetine injection reduced proliferative activity of splenocytes in comparison with the saline-treated mice. Desipramine administration 30 days before and 17 days after adjuvant injection did not change these parameters in spite of reduction of proliferative activity of splenocytes. These findings indicate that: 1) fluoxetine has a suppressive effect on some of the local and systemic changes which occur in adjuvant-induced arthritis in mice, 2) two-week desipramine administration significantly increases whereas 47-day desipramine treatment does not change most of local and systemic parameters of post-adjuvant disease in C57BL/6 mice, 3) the action of fluoxetine differs from that of desipramine in this model of autoimmunodisease probably as a result of the distinct effect of these two drugs on corticoids levels and on the activity of a sympathetic nervous system.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Immunoreactivity in kainate model of epilepsy.

Seizure-related changes in function of the peripheral immune system, especially in its cell component are poorly recognized. In the present study, we examined the effect of seizures induced by intraperitoneal injection of kainate to mice and rats on weight of central and secondary immunological organs and metabolic activity of splenocytes (MTT test). In kainate-injected mice the production of cytokines: interleukin 2 (IL-2) and IL-10 was also estimated. Seventy two hours after kainate administration, the mice and rats showed a marked decrease in the thymus weight by 36% and 50%, respectively, whereas the spleen weight tended to decrease in rats only. Splenocytes of kainate-injected mice and rats showed significant increase in metabolic activity. The ability of splenocytes of kainate-injected mice to produce IL-2 and IL-10 was reduced but only the former effect reached statistical significance. The results suggest a decrease in T helper-cell dependent immunoreactivity and enhanced phagocytic activity of macrophages in kainate-treated rodents.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of boar seminal plasma immunosuppressive factor on NK cell activity and skin graft survival.

The B 10 strain of mice was used to test the effect of the boar seminal vesicle immunosuppressive factor on the female mouse response to the male-specific transplantation antigen. Influence of this factor on human natural killer (NK) cell activity was also studied. No inhibitory effect of the immunosuppressive factor on graft survival was apparent during a time of more than 200 days, nor did the factor suppress NK cell activity.

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