The present study was carried out to further examine the immune responses …

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Biology Articles » Immunobiology » Immune response after experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in rats subjected to calorie restriction

Abstract

- Immune response after experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in rats subjected to calorie restriction

Immune response after experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in rats subjected to calorie restriction

Ana I Esquifino¹, Pilar Cano¹, Vanessa Jimenez-Ortega¹, María P Fernández-Mateos² and Daniel P Cardinali³

¹Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular III, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain
²Departamento de Biología Celular, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain
³Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Male Lewis rats (6 weeks-old) were submitted to a calorie restriction equivalent to 33% or 66% of food restriction. Fifteen days later, groups of 7 animals were injected with complete Freund's adjuvant plus spinal cord homogenate (SCH) to induce experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) or with complete Freund's adjuvant alone. EAE was defined solely on clinical grounds. Rats were assessed daily for clinical signs of EAE and were killed on day 15 after immunization. Both diet and SCH injection diminished body weight significantly. In contrast to rats receiving a normal diet or a 33% calorie-restricted diet, rats subjected to severe calorie restriction did not exhibit clinical signs of EAE. Concomitantly with the lack of disease manifestation, 66% of calorie-restricted rats injected with SCH showed significantly less splenic and lymph node mitogenic response to concanavalin A (Con A) and a higher splenic response to lipopolysaccharide. Fewer splenic, lymph node and thymic CD4⁺ cells, greater numbers of splenic and lymph node CD8⁺ and CD4⁺- CD8⁺ cells, and fewer splenic T, B and T-B cells, and lymph node and thymic B and T-B cells were observed. There was impaired interferon (IFN)-γ production occurred in the three examined tissues. The results are compatible with the view that the acute phase of EAE can be curtailed by severe calorie restriction, presumably through impaired IFN-γ production.