title: Early postnatal castration affects thymic and thymocyte noradrenaline levels and beta-adrenoceptor-mediated influence on the thymopoiesis in adult rats.
abstract: The interactions among the nervous, endocrine and immune system were studied by examining: i) thymic and thymocyte catecholamine levels in adult rats castrated (Cx) at postnatal day 3 and ii) effects of 14-day-long propranolol (P) treatment on main thymocyte differentiational molecule expression in adult non-Cx and Cx rat. The results demonstrated that castration in early postnatal period lowers levels of both neurally- and thymocyte-derived noradrenaline in adult rats, and thereby diminishes beta-adrenoceptor-mediated fine tuning of the T-cell differentiation/maturation. In non-Cx rats P affected TCRalphabeta-dependent stages of thymocyte differentiation/maturation decreasing frequency of CD4+8+ double positive (DP) TCRalphabeta(low) cells entering selection processes and increasing relative number of positively selected DP TCRalphabeta(high) (most likely due to an increased thymocyte surface density of Thy-1 that is involved in negative control of TCRalphabeta-mediated signaling/selection thresholds) and the most mature CD4+8- TCRalphabeta(high) cells (including CD4+25+ regulatory cells). However, in Cx rats P failed to produce any significant changes in thymocyte subset composition.
authors.affiliation: Immunology Research Centre Branislav Janković, Institute of Immunology and Virology Torlak, Belgrade, Serbia. Gordana.Leposavic@pharmacy.bg.ac.yu
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leposavić
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Radojević
authors.forename: Biljana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vidić-Danković
authors.forename: Dusko
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kosec
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pilipović
authors.forename: Milica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perisić
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D038041:Lymphopoiesis / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism*; D009919:Orchiectomy; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000378:metabolism; D018800:Thy-1 Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D018800:Thy-1 Antigens; D009638:Norepinephrine