title: Food restriction in female Wistar rats. VI. Effect of reduced glutathione on the proliferative response of splenic lymphocytes from ad libitum fed and food restricted animals.
abstract: The effect of reduced glutathione (GSH) on the proliferative response of splenic lymphocytes from young, adult and old ad libitum (AL) fed as well as from old food-restricted rats was investigated. Food restriction was applied on an every-other-day schedule (EOD) starting from the age of 3.5 months. As was expected, the cells from EOD fed animals responded to concanavalin A (Con A) much better than those from age-matched ad libitum fed rats. The presence of the antioxidant GSH in the culture medium increased the response of lymphocytes in all the models taken into account; furthermore, it decreased the differences due to aging and application of food restriction. According to present knowledge, mitogenic stimulation induces free radical production, and GSH has, among others, a strong antioxidant activity. Thus, present data suggest that splenocytes from EOD animals tolerated the peroxidative stress resulting from mitogenic stimulation better than those from AL fed ones.
authors.affiliation: Cytology Center, Gerontol. Res. Dept. of I.N.R.C.A., Via Birarelli, 8-60121 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pieri
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Recchioni
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moroni