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Thymic involution beyond water‐soluble silicon consumption
Author(s) -
Gordova Valentina,
Sergeeva Valentina
Publication year - 2016
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.30.1_supplement.915.18
Subject(s) - involution (esoterism) , h&e stain , stromal cell , medicine , biology , pathology , chemistry , endocrinology , anatomy , immunohistochemistry , immunology , consciousness , neuroscience
Recently we have shown that water‐soluble silicon compounds induced functional activation of monocyte/macrophage‐ and antigen‐presenting cells in the rat thymic lobules. Long‐time consumption of silicon‐containing compounds can trigger the autoimmune disorders. The physiological age‐dependent involution of the thymus associated with reorganization of stromal cell composition and resulted in replacement of thymic tissue with fat. The aim of present study was to determine a possible influence of water‐soluble silicon compounds ‐ sodium metasilicate ‐ on the morphological changings of thymic cytoreticulum. We analyzed thymus of white outbred 6 weeks old male rats. The control group (n=10) got standardized drinking water ad libitum . The experimental group received ad libitum the same water containing sodium metasilicate (10 mg/liter silicon content) for 2 months. Isolated thymic tissues were embedded in paraffin and stained with hematoxylin‐eosin. Images of thymic structures were performed under ×1000 magnification using light microscope MIKMED 5 and collected for further morphometric evaluation with Sigma Scan Pro 5.0 software. The volume of fat cells and size of nuclei were measured in five identical fields of view only in those thymic lobules, which have totally loose the cortical and medullar lymphocytes. Morphometrical analysis revealed that 15–20% of the thymic lobule size was consisting of lymphocyte‐loosed fields and was similar in both groups. The mean size of nuclei in those thymic areas of experimental animals was 10.26±0.24 μm 2 and the mean size of the fat cells −95.80±7.91 μm 2 , while the corresponding fields in the control group were 11.19±0.23 and 73.95±6.25 μm 2 , respectively. The thymic lymphocyte‐loosed areas from silicon‐treated rats contained significantly ( p <0.05) higher number of fat cell in comparison to the control group (88.03±10.33 versus 47.16±4.27 cells per 0.04 mm 2 ), but the nuclei number of thymic cytoreticular cells was definitely ( p <0.05) lower than in the control group (100.71±4.32 versus 118.64±4.09). These findings demonstrat that the long‐time consumption of water‐soluble silicon has impact on the redistribution of number and size of thymic adipocytes. Overall, the present study show that silicon, delivered with drinking water contribute the thymic involution in rodent. This fact may in part explain the role of water‐soluble silicon compounds in the development of autoimmune diseases.