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Dietary Dehydroepiandrosterone Raises Serum Cytokine Levels in Zucker Rats
Author(s) -
Svec Frank,
Porter Johnny R.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.914.6
Subject(s) - medicine , endocrinology , dehydroepiandrosterone , cytokine , diabetes mellitus , immune system , obesity , insulin , interleukin 6 , leptin , tumor necrosis factor alpha , androgen , hormone , immunology
The effect of dietary DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) on the levels of serum cytokine of male Zucker rats was studied. There were 8 groups of rats with 5 animals in each group; half of the 40 rats were obese while the others were lean. Half of each phenotype were made diabetic with streptozocin and half of each group were fed rat chow that was supplemented with 0.15% DHEA for 7 days before sacrifice. Body weights, corticosterone, DHEA, glucose and insulin levels were measured as well as TNF‐alpha, IL‐1 , IL‐1 alpha, IL‐1 beta, IL‐2, IL‐6, and IL‐10. The animals that were diabetic lost weight over the period of observation while the non‐diabetic controls gained weight. DHEA had no statistically significant effect on body weight. Diabetes did not affect cytokine levels. DHEA treatment, on the other hand, led to clear increases in the levels of IL‐1 alpha, IL‐2,IL‐6. Subgroup analysis showed that the effect of DHEA was seen in both lean and obese animals. These results point to the mechanism by which DHEA enhances the immune response. (Supported by Millenium Trust Excellence Fund Grant HEF (2000‐05)‐04 and American Hear Association Grant Southern Consortium 9808326V)