Effects of dental amalgam and heavy metal cations on cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cellsin vitro

✍ Scribed by Schedle, Andreas ;Rausch-Fan, Xiaohui H. ;Samorapoompichit, Puchit ;Franz, Alexander ;Leutmezer, Fritz ;Spittler, Andreas ;Baghestanian, Mehrdad ;Lucas, Trevor ;Valent, Peter ;Slavicek, Rudolf ;Boltz-Nitulescu, George

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 237 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9304
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4636(199810)42:1<76::aid-jbm10>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

The effects of dental amalgam on cytokine production by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy donors were analyzed. To induce cytokine production, PBMC were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, phytohemagglutinin, or staphylococcal enterotoxin A and cultured for 48 h in the presence of either freshly prepared amalgam, aged amalgam, or amalgam-conditioned culture medium (ACCM). The concentrations of several cytokines were measured in PBMC supernatants by enzyme-amplified sensitivity immunoassays (EASIAs). Freshly prepared amalgam as well as ACCM induced a decrease in the production of interferon-␥ (IFN-␥) and interleukin-10 (IL-10), and an increase in the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-␣ (TNF-␣). Both fresh amalgam and ACCM showed no effects on IL-2, IL-6, or granulocytemacrophage colony-stimulating factor levels. Amalgam aged for 6 weeks did not affect the concentration of any of the above cytokines. To investigate which heavy metal cat-ions released from amalgam caused the observed immunomodulatory effects, Cu 2+ , Hg 2+ , and Sn 2+ , which were detected in amalgam supernatants by inductively coupled plasma atomic spectrophotometry, were added as salts to the cultures. Cu 2+ and Hg 2+ induced a decrease in IFN-␥ and IL-10 levels, and Hg 2+ an increase in TNF-␣ concentrations. Cytokine production was not significantly modulated by Sn 2+ . Under these experimental conditions, release of Ag + into culture medium was not detectable. However, Ag + markedly suppressed the production of IFN-␥, IL-10, and TNF-␣. In summary, our results show that fresh amalgam, but not amalgam aged for 6 weeks, causes changes in the cytokine pattern of PBMC in vitro, and that these effects are due to the release of Cu 2+ and Hg 2+ .