Abstract
Clinical and animal studies suggest that burn injury induces alterations in zinc metabolism. It also has been established that zinc nutriture can cause alterations in the immune response, but there is a paucity of information concerning the interrelationship between burn injury, zinc nutriture and the immune response. In the present study, rats were subjected to full skin thickness dorsal scald injuries covering 30 per cent of the total body surface and then maintained on sufficient or deficient zinc intake. The rats were immunized with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) on day 6 postburn and killed 4 days later. The spleens were excised and spleen lymphocytes isolated and used in a Jerne plaque assay to determine the number of plaque-forming cells (PFC). The burn/zinc-sufficient regimen significantly increased ( P < 0.01) the PFC response when compared to unburned zinc-sufficient or zinc-deficient control rats. Burned rats that were maintained on a zinc-deficient regimen showed a significant decrease ( P < 0.05) in PFC when compared to burned rats maintained on a zinc-sufficient regimen. This study indicates an interaction of zinc in the primary humoral immune response following thermal injury.
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