Ilbäck N G
Toxicology Laboratory, National Food Administration, Uppsala, Sweden.
Toxicology. 1991 Mar 25;67(1):117-24. doi: 10.1016/0300-483x(91)90169-2.
The effect of 12 weeks of exposure to methyl mercury (MeHg) (3.9 micrograms/g diet) on the immune function was studied in female Balb/c mice. This MeHg dose did not affect body, kidney, liver or spleen weight. Thymus weight and cell number decreased by 22% (P less than 0.05) and 50% (P less than 0.001), respectively. The lymphoproliferative response to T and B cell mitogens, however, tended to increase in both lymphoid organs. Natural killer cell activity was reduced by 44% (P less than 0.01) and 75% (P less than 0.05) in the spleen and blood, respectively. The number of red blood cells increased slightly (12%, P less than 0.05), whereas white blood cell counts were unaffected. These results indicate that MeHg evokes immune suppressive effects on protective cytotoxic capacity that is of major importance in the pathogenesis of several diseases.
在雌性Balb/c小鼠中研究了暴露于甲基汞（MeHg）（3.9微克/克饮食）12周对免疫功能的影响。该MeHg剂量不影响体重、肾脏、肝脏或脾脏重量。胸腺重量和细胞数量分别减少了22%（P<0.05）和50%（P<0.001）。然而，对T和B细胞有丝分裂原的淋巴细胞增殖反应在两个淋巴器官中均有增加的趋势。脾脏和血液中的自然杀伤细胞活性分别降低了44%（P<0.01）和75%（P<0.05）。红细胞数量略有增加（12%，P<0.05），而白细胞计数未受影响。这些结果表明，MeHg对保护性细胞毒性能力产生免疫抑制作用，这在几种疾病的发病机制中至关重要。
