Abstract
SEVERAL environmental contaminants have been demonstrated to be synergistic to infectious agents. Polychlorinated biphenyls1, arsenicals2, cobalt sulphate3 and sulphur dioxide4 increased the mortality of animals infected with viral agents. Lead nitrate enhanced the mortality of mice to Salmonella typhimurium5. Some of these compounds are apparently immunosuppressive as circulating antibody titres to infectious agents from animals exposed to lead, cadmium, mercury6, DDT (ref. 7) and polychlorinated biphenyls8 were significantly lower than those from the control animals. This study was undertaken to determine if the decreased circulating antibody in animals that were exposed to lead was a result of a decrease in the number of cells producing antibody.
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KOLLER, L., KOVACIC, S. Decreased antibody formation in mice exposed to lead. Nature 250, 148–150 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/250148a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/250148a0
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