Thymus Pub Date : 1992-11-01

M C Lopez, L L Colombo, D S Huang, R R Watson

{"title":"Alteration of thymic cell subsets by cocaine administration and murine retrovirus infection in protein undernourished mice.","authors":"M C Lopez, L L Colombo, D S Huang, R R Watson","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"Retrovirus infection, cocaine administration, and nutritional deficiencies are known to individually produce impairment of the immune system. Therefore, we developed a murine model to study the effect of daily cocaine administration, protein malnutrition, and retrovirus infection causing murine AIDS on the lymphoid cell populations of the thymus. C57BL/6 female mice fed a diet containing 4% protein were studied following chronic cocaine administration and LP-BM5 murine leukemia virus (MuLV) infection. Cocaine administration reduced body and thymus weight. Cocaine partially prevented thymus enlargement due to lymphoid cell proliferation induced by murine retrovirus infection. Cocaine treatment affected dramatically the thymus of protein-malnourished mice where the absolute number of Thy 1.2+, CD4+ and CD8+ cells represented only 10% of the control values. Daily saline injection also induced a significant decrease in the number of Thy 1.2+, CD4+ and CD8+ cells per thymus. These results suggest that the thymus glands of mice fed a low protein diet were susceptible to stress. Retrovirus infection provoked a decrease in the percentage and absolute number of Thy 1.2+, CD4+ and CD8+ cells in the thymus. This effect was potentiated by cocaine treatment. Therefore, cocaine was able to potentiate the impairment of the immune system caused by MuLV infection. We consider that cocaine could alter the immune system by altering the expression of T cell differentiation markers after direct interaction with thymocytes or through the neuroendocrine-thymus axis. Moreover, this effect was more dramatic and severe during protein malnutrition.","PeriodicalId":76738,"journal":{"name":"Thymus","volume":"20 3","pages":"171-81"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1992-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"12507026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Effects of cyclosporin A on mouse thymus: immunochemical and ultrastructural studies. 环孢素A对小鼠胸腺的影响:免疫化学和超微结构研究。

Thymus Pub Date : 1992-11-01

N H Fabien, C Auger, A Moreira, J C Monier

{"title":"Effects of cyclosporin A on mouse thymus: immunochemical and ultrastructural studies.","authors":"N H Fabien, C Auger, A Moreira, J C Monier","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"The in vivo effect of cyclosporin A (CsA) on the murine thymus was investigated by studying the ultrastructural cellular alterations, which are described for the first time, and the immunohistochemical modifications of thymocytes and thymic reticulo-epithelial cells (TREC). A marked reduction of the thymus size became apparent after 6 days of CsA treatment (10 mg/kg/day). Light microscopy studies using polyclonal antibodies (Ab) or monoclonal Ab specific to lymphoid sub-populations (anti-CD4, anti-CD5, anti-CD8), and specific to epithelial cells (anti-keratin: AKs, K8), to cortical TREC (TR4) and to subcapsular/medullary TREC (TR5, 3H9) showed that the number of CD4- 8+ or CD4+ 8- medullary thymocytes dramatically decreased and that the cortical TREC are affected, after 10 days of CsA treatment. These observations were confirmed by electron microscopy studies demonstrated that the medullary lymphoid population disappeared almost entirely. TREC, principally cortical type, presented signs of cellular lysis. A few cortical thymocytes showed some damage. At day 8 the medullary thymic tissue was disorganized, but no change was noted in the subcapsular area right up to the final day (day 10) of CsA treatment. These results suggest that CsA has a harmful effect on cortical TREC, which affects the development of immature thymocytes.","PeriodicalId":76738,"journal":{"name":"Thymus","volume":"20 3","pages":"153-62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1992-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"12632407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Thymus Pub Date : 1992-11-01

S Dubiski, B Cinader

{"title":"Age-related polymorphism of thymus subpopulations in inbred mice.","authors":"S Dubiski, B Cinader","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"There are striking age-related changes in the demography of thymus lymphocytes, i.e. in thymus-cell subpopulations of BALB/c and SJL mice; these changes occur in the proportion of cells, identified by various markers, and by the membrane density of these markers. The thymuses of both strains undergo an age-related increase in the proportion of CD4+ CD8- cells and decrease in CD4+ CD8+ cells. Age-related changes in cells that are Pgp-1+ also show marked strain differences: Pgp-1+ cells increase in SJL, but not in BALB/c thymuses. In both strains, cells with high density of Pgp-1 appear in later life, though this is more marked in the thymus of SJL, which also shows a higher relative density at an advanced age, than do BALB/c mice. Furthermore, the per cent of cells with high density of Pgp-1 is larger in thymuses of SJL than in BALB/c mice. The percentage of CD45+ thymocytes remains unchanged, as animals age. Thymocyte-membrane densities of CD-45 undergo age-related increases in both SJL and BALB/c. The per cent of cells with high density of CD-45 is similar in both strains. Individual variations in relative size of subpopulations in SJL mice of the same age are greater in old than in young mice; this increase in heterogeneity is manifested by increase in standard deviation. Corresponding significant changes have not been observed in BALB/c or C57BL/6 mice. Thus, we have detected an intrastrain variation which may reflect age-related effects of the impact of stochastic events.","PeriodicalId":76738,"journal":{"name":"Thymus","volume":"20 3","pages":"183-93"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1992-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"12533974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Metoclopramide increases the number of solid epithelial islands in the adult rat thymuses. 甲氧氯普胺增加成年大鼠胸腺实体上皮岛的数量。