Studies on the anti-inflammatory and immunotropic effect of gold salts.

The experiments carried out in vitro and in vivo aimed at evaluation of the effect of the selected gold salts on the experimental inflammatory reactions and cellular immune reactions, specific and nonspecific. The preparations investigated appeared to inhibit relatively weakly nonspecific inflammatory processes (granulation test, lysozym level) but to strongly inhibit the cellular immune reactions (GvH reaction, LNPF test, contact hypersensitivity). The possible mechanisms of the gold salts effect are discussed which were shown neither to consist in the stabilization of cell membranes nor to act through the thymus factors or the influence on quantitative relations between T and B lymphocytes. A suggestion has been put forward that gold salts exert direct effect on the mature final cells participating in the immune processes.