Relationship between Ah receptor-mediated polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-induced humoral immunosuppression and thymic atrophy.

Thymic atrophy and humoral immunosuppression by certain polychlorinated biphenyls is associated with the aromatic hydrocarbon (Ah) receptor in mice. We examined the relationship between these two toxic effects. 3,3',4,4'-Tetrachlorobiphenyl (TCB), which causes immunosuppression and thymic atrophy, and 2,3,3',4,4',5-hexachlorobiphenyl, which causes immunosuppression without thymic atrophy, were administered i.p. to C57BL/6 mice at 0, 35 and 350 mumol/kg b.wt. 2 days before i.v. immunization with 10 micrograms of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide. Both congeners caused significant suppression of the day 4 anti-lipopolysaccharide plaque-forming cell response/spleen (less than or equal to 46% of control). TCB (350 mumol/kg) was also administered 2 days before either a primary or secondary i.p. immunization with sheep erythrocytes. TCB treatment before primary immunization had no effects on the day 5 secondary response, whereas treatment before the secondary immunization significantly inhibited both day 5 immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G plaque-forming cells (less than 10 and less than 2% of control, respectively) and decreased serum antibody. TCB administered either 8 or 2 days before or 2 or 4 days after immunization with sheep erythrocytes demonstrated that significant suppression of both plaque-forming cells and serum antibody could occur without thymic atrophy. Immunity was most impaired when TCB was given 2 days before immunization. These results demonstrate that thymic atrophy does not always accompany the severe immunosuppression caused by Ah receptor ligands and suggests that it may not be a sensitive measure of Ah receptor-mediated immunosuppression. The data also suggests that differentiation of B lymphocytes into antibody producing cells is impaired during Ah receptor-mediated gene activation.