Chronic Effects of Mercury on Organisms:

Changes in indices of immunobiological reactivity under the influence of low mercury concentrations


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CHANGES IN INDICES OF IMMUNOBIOLOGICAL REACTIVITY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LOW MERCURY CONCENTRATIONS Summary only Thus prolonged action of low mercury concentrations on mammals leads to changes in a number of immunological indicators: agglutinin leads to changes in a number of immunological indicators: agglutinin titers, active leucocyte percent, phagocytic number, complement activity of blood serum. The dynamics arising under the influence of toxic effects of immunological shifts is characterized by two periods: an initial short-term stimulation of immunological response, and by its subsequent stronger suppression. There is a significant decrease in the preventive properties of the blood obtained from immunized animals subjected to chronic action of mercury. Materials of I. Ya. Uchitel' and A. S. Konikova (1957) indicate that the sharp increase in specific antibodies under revaccination is accompanied by activation of synthesis of non-specific proteins by the serum. There is a definite correlation between antibody formation capacity, that is, the intensity of synthesis of specific and non-specific proteins, especially blood proteins. Our experiments on protein resynthesis in animals affected by mercury suggest that in micromercurialism, there is a suppression of this resynthesis and a decreased capability of the organism to form antibodies under antigenic stimulation and that these two are closely connected. Immunity indicators, especially agglutinin formation, change under prolonged exposure of low mercury concentrations and reflect general physiological relationships. Our data confirm opinions that changes in immunological indictors as a rule appear significantly earlier than many other signs of latent toxic effects even in the very earliest stages of toxic "aggression". These data correspond with that of V. K. Navrotskiy (1960) that indicators of artificial immunological reactivity "...are especially sensitive during the action of the organism of environmental factors of very small parameters".