Fig. 2.

The effect of HgCl₂ on the in vitro monoclonal antibody (MoAb) -activated release of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α (a), interleukin (IL)-6 (b), interferon (IFN)-γ (c), IL-4 (d) and IL-10 (e) by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Box-plots show data of 12 samples, each with three replicates. T helper 1 (Th1)/Th2 ratios were evaluated from %IFN-γ/%IL-4 (f) and %IFN-γ/%IL-10 (g). Symbols above each plots show whether, at each dose, cytokine release was significantly stimulated (#) or suppressed (*) compared with the controls (P < 0·05 in Wilcoxon's rank test).