Cadmium and nickel modulation of adherence capacity of murine peritoneal macrophages and lymphocytes. Intersexual comparisons.

1. Cadmium and nickel are common environmental toxicants that alter the immune response. 2. Cellular adherence is a crucial immune response, but little is known about it. 3. In the present paper we investigated the effect of CdCl2 and NiCl2 on the early (10 min) and late (45 min) adherence of peritoneal cells from male and female mice. 4. Adherence of macrophages is markedly higher than lymphocytes. Cells from female generally adhere to a greater extent than those from male. 5. The effect of either metal, when noticeable, results in an adherence enhancement which is higher, at 10 min in lymphocytes, in male peritoneal cells and when exerted by Ni.