Abstract
Abstract
The effects of the H2 receptor antagonists cimetidine and metiamide on antibody responsiveness by murine splenocytes immunized in vitro with sheep erythrocytes were examined. These agents had a dose-related effect on antibody formation. Incubation of normal mouse spleen cells with 10 μg metiamide or cimetidine resulted in a marked stimulation of the antibody response, but increasing the dose to 1000 μg or more depressed the response. The higher doses also suppressed viability of the cells, but to a lesser extent than suppression of antibody formation. There was no effect on the cytokinetics of appearance of antibody-forming cells, since the peak day of the response was similar regardless of presence or absence of the drugs. Optimum enhancement occurred when the drugs were added to cultures on Day 0 or plus one day, indicating that immunomodulation was associated with early events of the immune response.
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