Inhibition of the mixed lymphocyte reaction by fractionated niridazole urine dialysate

Urine dialysate from rats treated orally with 25 mg/Kg 3H-labeled niridazole was fractionated by DEAE-Sepharose column chromatography and was found to contain three radioactive metabolites and no parent compound. When human niridazole urine dialysate (NUD) was fractionated under identical conditions, fractions corresponding to the three rat NUD metabolites were found to inhibit the human one-way MLR. No inhibition was obtained with fractionated control urine dialysate. It was concluded that nonimmunosuppressive niridazole is metabolized by rats and man to produce three active compounds with the ability to suppress the in vitro response to alloantigens.