Preliminary Report on Zinc-Induced Resistance to Nitrogen Mustard Toxicity in Mice

摘要

Previous studies with cultured human normal fibroblasts indicated that treatment of cells with zinc before exposure to alkylating agents enhanced cell survival by seven- to nine-fold. To establish whether a similar zinc-induced protective response could be elicited in vivo, a set of preliminary experiments was carried out in which Balb/cJ mice were treated with zinc chloride (2 mg/kg body weight) or saline by intraperitoneal (ip) injection at 48, 36, 24, and 12 h before ip administration of 4 mg/kg of the alkylating agent nitrogen mustard. Of the animals that received saline before nitrogen mustard, 57% were killed compared with only 20% in the group treated with zinc before administration of the alkylating agent. These results (which almost certainly were achieved with less than optimal induction conditions) provide evidence for the existence, in vivo, of a zinc-inducible process that reduces alkylating agent lethality. 12 refs., 4 figs. (ERA citation 14:005243)