The Immunomodulatory Effects of Two Plant Growth Regulators, Cycloheximide and Maleic Hydrazide, in White Mice

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Abstract
The immunomodulatory effects of two plant growth regulators, cycloheximide and maleic hydrazide, were investigated by injecting the compounds twice weekly for 4 weeks in female Swiss Webster white mice. The animals were antigenically challenged with sheep red blood cells on day 24 of the study. Although humoral immunity was the primary system examined, analysis included all of the following parameters: spleen plaque forming cells (PFC's), lymphocyte viability, spleen lymphocyte counts, hemolysin titers, total plasma proteins, total white blood cells counts, hematocrit, total body weight, and liver, thymus and spleen weights. Cyclophosphamide and physiological saline were used as the respective positive and negative control substances. The dosing was as follows: cyclophosphamide at 50 mg/kg/injection, cycloheximide at 12.5, 25 and 50 mg/kg/injection and maleic hydrazide at 125 and 250 mg/kg/injection. Cycloheximide significantly (P<.05) reduced, in a dose-dependent fashion, the thymus wt/gram of body weight, the number of PFC's/gram of spleen, total lymphocytes/gram of spleen, PFC's per 106 viable spleen lymphocytes and the hemolysin antibody titer levels. Maleic hydrazide significantly reduced thymus weights and moderately lowered the ratio of PFC's per 106 viable spleen lymphocytes. Maleic hydrazide significantly elevated total lymphocytes per gram of spleen and the hemolysin titer (up to 133% over saline control values). There was an elevation in the number of PFC's per gm of spleen by maleic hydrazide and the overall effects were dose related. Cycloheximide, a known inhibitor of protein synthesis, was distinctly the most suppressive of the two plant growth regulators. Both agents are widely utilized on agricultural products and the results suggest the need for care in their application and residue removal. Used properly, the plant growth regulators may pose little or no human health hazard, but this report documents a new biological activity for these agents.