RESISTANCE OF LONG-LIVED LYMPHOCYTES AND PLASMA CELLS IN RAT LYMPH NODES TO TREATMENT WITH PREDNISONE, CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE, 6 MERCAPTOPURINE, AND ACTINOMYCIN D,
Abstract
The cells of the popliteal lymph nodes of rats were labeled for four days after a secondary immunological stimulus. Thirty-one days after the last dose of tritiated thymidine, groups of rats were started on courses of daily, intraperitoneal injections of prednisone, cyclophosphamide, 6-mercaptopurine, or actinomycin D. The initially low doses of these agents were doubled on successive weeks until either lymphoid hypoplasia or death occurred. Rats from each group were killed weekly, and the percentages of persisting, labeled small lymphocytes in the popliteal nodes were determined. Sections of these nodes were examined for persisting, labeled plasma cells. The percent of lymphocytes labeled increased while the total number of lymphocytes decreased during treatment with prednisone and cyclophosphamide. Prednisone decreased the numbers of long-lived plasma cells, but these cells were preferentially resistant to cyclophosphamide. Neither 6-mercaptopurine nor actinomycin D had an appreciable effect on lymphoid tissues histologically nor on the proportions of labeled, long-lived lymphocytes and plasma cells before causing the deaths of the rats receiving them. These results indicate that long-lived lymphocytes and plasma cells survive treatment with the immunolytic drugs studied, and that long-lived lymphocytes are specifically resistant to prednisone and cyclophosphamide. It is believed that these results have an application to the attempts to find drugs useful in the treatment of immunologic rejections of organ transplants and for therapy of autoimmune diseases. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 20, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0650863
Entities
People
- J. J. Miller Iii
- Leonard J. Cole
Organizations
- Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory