Jiménez V, Cardinali DP, Alvarez MP, Fernández MP, Boggio V, Esquifino AI. Effect of chronic ethanol feeding on 24-hour rhythms of mitogenic responses and lymphocyte subset populations in thymus and spleen of peripubertal male rats.
Neuroimmunomodulation 2005;
12:357-65. [PMID:
16557036 DOI:
10.1159/000091129]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2005] [Accepted: 08/29/2005] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
This work analyzes the effect of chronic ethanol feeding on the 24-hour variation of mitogenic responses and lymphocyte subset populations in thymus and spleen. Animals were maintained under a 12:12-hour light/dark photoperiod and they received a liquid diet for 4 weeks, starting on day 35 of life. The ethanol-fed group received a similar diet to controls except that maltose was isocalorically replaced by ethanol. Ethanol replacement provided 36% of the total caloric content of the diet. Rats were killed at 6 time intervals around the clock, beginning at Zeitgeber time (ZT) 1 (ZT 0 = lights on). Under ethanol intake the splenic and thymic weight decreased. In addition, mean values of the thymic, but not of the splenic T cell number decreased, and mean values of the thymic and splenic CD8+ and CD4+CD8+ number increased. Consequently, the thymic T/B ratio and the thymic and splenic CD4+/CD8+ ratio decreased in ethanol-fed rats. At the same time there was a significant increase in the response of the thymic cells to LPS. The ethanol diet modified the 24-hour rhythmicity of thymic and splenic T, B and CD4+CD8+ cells, thymic CD4+ and splenic CD8+ cells, thymic and splenic T/B and CD4+/CD8+ ratios, as well as of mitogenic responses in both tissues. Chronic ethanol administration presumably affects the endogenous clock that modulates the circadian variation of immune responsiveness in growing rats.
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