title: Immunoregulatory defects in murine aged Peyer's patches.
abstract: Aging effect on immunoregulatory processes in Peyer's patches (PP) from BALB/c mice of 3-4 months and 24-28 months was studied in vitro. The magnitude of isotype-specific Ig production by aged or young PP B cells in co-culture with young or old fresh PP T cells strongly suggested that the suppressor activity of PP T cells was impaired in aged mice. Further studies on in vitro induction of concanavalin A-activated T helper cells, T suppressor-inducer cells and T suppressor cells from aged PP indicated that the generation of T suppressor cells was largely impaired, in contrast to a minor defect(s) in that of T helper cells. The findings obtained here at least suggest that in aged PP, a T suppressor-inducer cell subset appears to be more selectively impaired in the aging process than the other lymphocyte subpopulations, which possess minor intrinsic functional defects. Thus, these abnormal T and B cell responses in PP could be responsible for the senescence-associated gut mucosal immunologic dysfunction.
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000494:pharmacology; D007121:Immunocompetence; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C / Q000276:immunology; D010581:Peyer's Patches / Q000276:immunology*; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes; D003208:Concanavalin A