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. 1981 Jan;43(1):189–194.

Immune responses of rats chronically fed subclinical doses of lead.

A Bendich, E H Belisle, H R Strausser
PMCID: PMC1537135  PMID: 6972839

Abstract

The effects of chronic feeding of low levels of lead on various cells of the rat immune system have been investigated. In the presence of Con A and PHA, lead appears to increase blastogenesis up to approximately 5 weeks with activity approaching that of the unleaded control cells at 14 weeks. B cells responded with increased mitogenicity in the presence of LPS up to the time of termination of the experiment (14 weeks). Macrophage activity and number in the lead-fed rat showed consistent decrease and eventual morphological impairment. It is hypothesized that lead has mitogen-like activity but disruption of macrophage-T cell interaction occurs with time.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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