White Albino Mice Research Articles

Effect of erythrocytes treated with enterobacterial common antigen on experimental Salmonella typhimurium infection of mice.

The immunogenicity of enterobacterial common antigen (CA)-treated horse or mouse erythrocytes was determined in Swiss white albino mice by comparing survival rates with control mice, immunized with P. aeruginosa fraction-treated RBC and challenged in parallel with 10 LD50 S. typhimurium. The administration of small amounts of CA on horse, but not mouse, RBC significantly delayed mortality; protection was only marginally less than that evoked with 12-fold larger amounts of CA in the absence of RBC. Survival in infected animals was transient; independent of immunogen or control preparation employed, all mice were dead by day 15 after challenge.

Immunologic mimicry between mouse tissue and enterobacterial common antigen.

Organs of Swiss white albino and C57BL/6Ha mice were assessed for an antigen (CRA) which cross-reacts with common enterobacterial antigen (CA). To this end, supernatant fluids (HKS) and ethanol-soluble fractions (ES) of heated homogenates of spleens, kidneys, and livers were examined for their capacities to react with CA hemagglutinins and to engender humoral and cellular events in the rabbit. The immunogenicity of CRA in the rabbit can not be predicted on the basis of CA hemagglutinin neutralization studies alone; although CRA was identified in the liver extracts of both mouse strains, according to this parameter, only the liver fraction of Swiss white albino mice elicited significant numbers of rosette-forming cells (RFC) in the spleens of rabbits. Also, kidney fractions, which primed the rabbits for booster with CA, were less effective in stimulating RFC in the spleens failed to inhibit CA hemagglutination and did not prime rabbits for a CA hemagglutinin response, these same preparations clearly evoked RFC in rabbit spleens. Thus, the antigenicity and immunogenicity of CRA in target organs of mice reflect the mouse strain, extraction procedure, and testing method employed.

Adaptation to the toxic effects of lead.

Adaptation to the toxic effects of lead, mercury, and cadmium has been reported by several investigators. In this study, we examined the susceptibility of male white albino mice to lead toxicity after pretreaitment with a small intraperitoneal dose of lead nitrate. Indices of lead toxicity chosen for study were lethality, body weight loss, liver and kidney weight changes, hematocrilt, and inhibition of liver δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity. Pretreatment with lead nitrate (10 or 20 mg/kg i.p.) protected mice against the acute lethal effects of a 200-mg/kg i.p. dose of lead nitrate, the optimal time of pretreatment being 4 days before the challenge dose. Pretreatment with lead nitrate (20 mg/kg i.p) did not attenuate and may have exacerbated the subacute lead toxicity Induced by a 4% basic lead carbonate diet fed over a 12-day period. It appears that only selected biological parameters develop resistance to lead.

Effect of immunization with common enterobacterial antigen on experimental Salmonella typhimurium infection of mice.

Common enterobacterial antigen (CA) extracted from cultures of Escherichia & serogroups 014 and 0111 was administered intraperitoneally to Swiss white albino and C57BL/6Ha mice. Seven days after the last of 3 injections, the mice were challenged intraperitoneally with 100 LD50 Salmonella typhimurium C5S. Numbers of living mice were recorded daily and compared with the numbers of living mice in control groups which had received extracts of Staphylococcus aureus or Pseudomonas aeruginosa, devoid of CA, or buffered saline. Both mouse strains immunized with CA showed transient but statistically significant protection; the Swiss white albino mice were the better protected. Further studies are needed to identify the role of CA in cellular and humoral immunity against salmonelloeis.

Uptake of DOPA and 5-HTP in pancreatic islets and parafollicular cells studied by combined autoradiographic and fluorescence microscopic techniques.

White albino mice were simultaneously injected with 3H-5-HTP and unlabelled DOPA or 3H-DOPA and unlabelled 5-HTP. The distribution patterns of the formed indol- and catecholamines in a) the pancreatic islets and b) the parafollicular cells were then compared by use of a combined autoradiographic-fluorescence microscopic technique.

The role of host factors in mouse trophoblastic tissue growth

By means of 800 r whole-body x-irradiation, host defensive and immunologic responses were heavily suppressed. Fertilized ova from C57BL/6J, A/HeJ, and white albino mice were transplanted to the kidneys of x-irradiated mice from the same or different strains. At the time of peak growth the number of living trophoblastic cells in irradiated animals was higher than in nonirradiated animals. No malignant changes in trophoblastic cells were observed. This suggests that environmental factors related to the immunologic and defensi ve state of the host plays a significant role in the degree of growth, prolifera tion, and life-span of trophoblastic cells.