Premium
Effects of psychosocial stress or food restriction on body mass and blood cellular immunity in laboratory rats
Author(s) -
Stefanski Volker
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
stress and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1532-2998
pISSN - 1532-3005
DOI - 10.1002/smi.894
Subject(s) - biology , immunity , cellular immunity , social stress , concanavalin a , immunology , endocrinology , cd8 , weight loss , medicine , immune system , physiology , obesity , genetics , in vitro , neuroscience
Abstract Immunological changes were studied in socially stressed loser rats and in rats restricted of food or water. Seven days of chronic social confrontation resulted in a significant loss of body mass as well as in marked alterations of blood cellular immunity in loser rats. Loser males showed increased numbers of granulocytes, reduced numbers of CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, and B cells, as well as a lowered proliferative response of lymphocytes to concanavalin A. To test the possibility of whether the immunological change in loser males is a direct effect of altered nutritional state, non‐confronted males were restricted of food (−90 per cent) for 7 days to mimic the weight loss of loser males. While losers and food restricted males lost a similar 15 per cent of their initial body mass, their immunological outcome largely differed: food or water restriction had little immunological impact, except on granulocytes (reduced numbers). Obviously, social stress alters granulocyte numbers in a different direction than under food or water restriction. Together the data indicate that modulation of blood cellular immunity in loser males is unlikely to be caused by altered nutritional state during socially stressful confrontations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.