HISTOCHEMICAL-LOCALIZATION OF AUTOMETALLOGRAPHICALLY DETECTABLE MERCURY IN TISSUES OF THE IMMUNE-SYSTEM FROM MICE EXPOSED TO MERCURIC-CHLORIDE

The distribution of mercury in the spleen, liver, lymph nodes, thymus and bone marrow was studied by autometallography in mice exposed to me rcuric chloride intraperitoneally. Application of immunofluorescence h istochemistry and an autometallographic silver amplification method wa s employed to the same tissue section. Mercury was not only detected i n macrophages marked by the antibody M1/70 but also in macrophage-like cells, which were either autofluorescent or devoid of fluorescent sig nals. These two cell types were identified as macrophages at the elect ron microscopical level. Autometallographically stained macrophages we re observed in the spleen, lymph nodes, thymus and in Kupffer cells of the liver. Furthermore, mercury was observed in endothelial cells. No obvious pathological disturbances were observed at Light and electron microscopical level. At the subcellular level mercury was localized i n lysosomes of macrophages and endothelial cells.