Specification of the immune response: its suppression induced by chloramphenicol in vitro

Specific in vitro PFC responses to trinitrophenyl conjugated to sheep red blood cells are inhibited by chloramphenicol (CAP), thiamphenicol (TAP), and diuron (DIU) by B-cell impairment. However, both mitogenic and polyclonal response to lipopolysaccharide is not affected by CAP and TAP but severely inhibited by DIU. Similarly, contact of cultured cells for the first 24 h with CAP did not much affect the 4th-day in vitro PFC response but the same incubation with DIU reduced it by 70%. Moreover, DIU used at the same concentration provoked an important mortality of cultured cells. These differences suggest that the target mechanism of CAP and TAP differs from that of DIU.