Fig 5.

Dose–response of FVB/N (H-2^q) and B10.M (H-2^f) mice to silver-induced anti nucleolar autoantibody (ANolA) production. Groups of female FVB/N (H-2^q) and B10.M (H-2^f) mice were injected repeatedly subcutaneously (s.c.) with the indicated dosage of AgNO₃ (horizontally striped, cross-hatched and solid bars) or NaCl (open bars) for either 4 (FVB/N mice) or 8 (B10.M mice) weeks. At the end of each experiment the mice were bled and killed. The sera were tested for the presence of ANolA by using an indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) method. Rat liver sections were used as the substrate. Data are shown as mean + 1 s.e. Significant differences between the parameters in silver- and saline-injected mice were calculated by Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test. *P < 0·05; **P < 0·01; ***P < 0·001. Significant differences between the parameters in mice injected with different concentrations of silver were calculated by multiple comparisons test. n.s.: Not significant.