Influence of diethyldithiocarbamate on the activity of ecto-ATPase in lymphocytes of rats: ex vivo studies.

Influence of diethyldithiocarbamate (DTC) on the activity of ecto-ATPase (plasma membrane-bound enzyme participating in a cascade of reactions leading to the formation of adenosine--a modulator of inflammation) was examined on the lymphocytes isolated from the spleen of rats with inflammation. DTC was administered at doses of 4 mg/kg and 290 mg/kg using two modes of administration. It has been observed that: a) an inflammation caused an increase in ecto-ATPase activity in both subpopulations of lymphocytes; in the case of B-lymphocytes, the maximum of activity occurred 48 h and in the case of T-lymophocytes, 72 h after the injection of carrageenin; b) a single injection of DTC at both doses, 24 h before or 24 h after carrageenin injection caused a decrease in ecto-ATPase activity in B-lymphocytes and its increase in T-lymphocytes throughout the whole measurement period, which was not observed when DTG was administered only after provocation of inflammation; c) administration of a high dose of DTC together with equimolar doses of disulfiram and CS2 led to a decrease in ecto-ATPase activity and 5 '-nucleotidase level in B-lymphocytes, which is bound to the former enzyme; d) in in vitro studies, both populations of lymphocytes isolated from the rats treated with a four-fold dose of DTC showed higher resistance of ecto-ATPase to inhibitors of the enzyme and antagonists of type P2 purinoceptors.