Abstract
Summary
Peritoneal macrophages ioslated from mice treated for four days with low doses of zinc showed higher viability when exposed to the toxic effect of silica particles (1 μ). By pretreatment with high doses of zinc, the cytotoxic effect of silica was increased. The protective effect of low doses of zinc was not found to be related to the interaction of zinc with silica particles and is thought to lie within the cell.
Some functions of macrophages, screened by determination of phagocytosis of Staphylococcus albus and rate of phagocytosis, were inhibited in mice treated with both low as well as high doses of zinc.
The concentration of zinc in macrophages, and also in platelets and lymphocytes, increased by a factor of 5-10 when the cells were incubated in medium containing zinc. Zinc accumulation in these cells was pH dependent, but was not pH dependent in the mitochondrial-lysosomal fraction.
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