Enhancement of antibody production by mercury and platinum group metal halide salts. Kinetics of total and ovalbumin-specific IgE synthesis.

The effects of halide salts of mercury, platinum and palladium on the synthesis of total and specific serum IgE and of total IgG were studied in groups of Hooded Lister rats immunised with antigen (ovalbumin) in the presence and absence of an adjuvant (Bordetella pertussis vaccine or aluminium hydroxide). Repeated intraperitoneal injections of mercuric chloride alone rapidly enhanced total IgE levels in control rats, independent of adjuvant. Injections of the platinum salt, however, elevated total IgE levels more slowly and then only in the B. pertussis-treated group. The halide salt of palladium was ineffective. In rats immunised with antigen and adjuvant, mercury treatment rapidly produced enhancement of the titre-specific IgE antibodies, whereas treatment with platinum again raised these levels more slowly. The palladium salt had no such effect.