Clindamycin and tetracycline as immunomodulating agents: an in vivo study

The present study was undertaken to determine the effects of clindamycin and tetracycline, both intravenously administered, on antibody response to thymus-dependent antigen (PC-KLH) in BALB/c mice. The immunological parameters evaluated were: DPFC/spleen (direct plaque forming-cells), antibody secretion median rate (PC50), heterogeneity index (Hi), number of total splenic lymphocytes and cellular viability. The results showed that clindamycin (i.v.) increased the humoral response; 28 mg/kg was the dose that showed the greatest enhancement (+73%). The PC50 was not affected by clindamycin but Hi decreased at 28 mg/kg and increased at 2.8 mg/kg doses, although neither result was statistically significant. When tetracycline was given i.v., a slight decrease in the anti-PC DPFC number was observed. Although the PC50 was greater at 10 mg/kg (p less than 0.05), Hi was smaller at the 1 mg/kg dose (p less than 0.05).