Interference in the development of a secondary immune response in mice by zinc deprivation: persistence of effects.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a moderate period of zinc deficiency on the secondary responses of mice primed with antigen prior to nutritional insufficiency. Adult A/J mice were primed with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) 2 weeks prior to being placed on zinc-deficient, zinc-adequate or intake-restricted diets. After 28 days some of the mice in each treatment group were given a second injection of SRBC. Deficient mice could produce only 43% as many IgG anti-SRBC plaque-forming cells (PFC) per spleen as could the zinc-adequate or restricted-fed mice. To compare the secondary response of cells from each dietary group in a uniform environment, additional mice were killed as a source of primed splenocyte for transfer to irradiated hosts. Compared to controls, splenocytes from deficient mice gave suboptimal secondary responses even in normal irradiated hosts. Finally, the remaining mice were provided with zinc-adequate diet for a period of 4 weeks to allow for repair of the memory response, but it was only partially restored by this means. The data suggest that zinc deficiency may have destroyed a substantial portion of SRBC memory cells.