title: Dose-dependent opposite effect of zinc on apoptosis in mouse thymocytes.
abstract: Zinc is a crucial nutritional component required for the normal development and maintenance of immune functions. It has been reported that zinc is a potent inhibitor of DNA fragmentation, the specific marker of apoptosis. The effect of zinc on apoptotic cell death has been previously studied in a narrow range of high zinc concentrations, and the role of physiological zinc doses has not yet been elucidated. In this paper we evaluate the effect of in vitro Zn2+ administration at concentrations higher than, corresponding to, and lower than the physiological concentration, in thymocytes from young mice. We demonstrate that Zn2+ has an opposite effect on apoptosis, inhibiting or increasing it depending on the Zn2+ concentration used. High Zn2+ concentrations (from 600 to 75 microM) inhibit both serum-free medium and DEX-induced thymocyte apoptosis. Low Zn2+ concentrations (from 15 to 7.5 microM) induce apoptosis or increase serum-free medium-induced apoptosis. The effect of low Zn2+ concentrations on DEX-induced apoptosis is dependent on the length of incubation, since Zn2+ has an additive effect with DEX in inducing DNA fragmentation at 8 h of culture, whereas it blocks DEX-induced apoptosis after 20 h incubation. Both DEX and 15 microM Zn(2+)-induced DNA fragmentation require protein synthesis, being blocked through cycloheximide. The inhibiting and inducing effects of Zn2+ on apoptosis are exerted on G0/G1 phase thymocytes. The inhibiting effect of Zn2+ on apoptosis is related to an increase in the number of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes. Concentrations of Zn2+ inducing apoptosis sometimes cause a decrease of CD4+CD8+ cells with a corresponding increase of CD4+CD8-thymocytes. These data show that in vitro Zn2+ has a dose-dependent opposite effect on apoptosis, suggesting that Zn2+ not only acts as an inhibitor but also plays a more complex role in physiological intrathymic cell selection.
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Department, Italian National Research Centres on Aging (INRCA), Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Provinciali
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Stefano
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fabris
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D015032:Zinc / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D003907:Dexamethasone; D015032:Zinc