Interleukin-2 production in Brown-Norway rats with HgCl2-induced autoimmune disease: paradoxical in vivo versus in vitro findings.

In autoimmune diseases, mitogen-induced IL-2 production in vitro is generally considered to be diminished despite evidence of lymphoid hyperactivity in vivo. HgCl2 is known to cause T-dependent polyclonal B cell activation in Brown-Norway (BN) rats, resulting in autoimmune disease. We show here that the IL-2 producing capacity of cells from HgCl2-treated BN rats is low, but that HgCl2 treatment in vitro (10(-7) M) enhances IL-2 production of normal BN splenocytes.

Cellular immune response in rnu/rnu rats. I. Lectin responsiveness and IL-2 production kinetics of natural cytotoxicity and spleen-cell surface marker expression.

Several functional parameters and surface markers were studied serially in rnu/rnu rats and compared to rnu/+ controls. Expressed as a percentage of labelled splenocytes, rnu/rnu animals had decreased W3/13 (P less than 0.01) and W3/25 (P less than 0.