Effect of the herbicide atrazine on some immune parameters in mice

Atrazine is one of the most extensively used herbicides worldwide especiall y on maize and to a lesser extent on a variety of crops. Immune functions w ere examined in inbred Balb/c mice following a 10- day oral administration of atrazine at doses of 2, 20 and 100 mg/kg/day. The weight of thymus and s pleen cellularity in the group admistered with a total dose of 1000 mg/kg o f atrazine were significantly decreased. The highest dose of atrazine inhib ited the immune reactivity in the regional popliteal lymph node 24 h after local intrapadally secondary immunization with SRBC in DTH reaction. The sa me dose of atrazine administered 10 days prior to skin grafting decreased t he survival of primary skin allografts. The phagocytic activity and the hum oral immune response were not significantly