Role of the striatum in the humoral immune response to thymus-independent and thymus-dependent antigens in rats

Victor Rivera-Aguilar, Enrique Querejeta, Rosa Adriana Jarillo-Luna, Humberto Reyna-Garfias, Daniel Ponce-Franco, Angel Milliar-Garcia, Alma Rosa Quiñones-Cárdenas, Judith Pacheco-Yepez, Rafael Campos-Rodríguez

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Since the role of striatal GABAergic medium-sized spiny (MSP) neurons in the modulation of the immune responses is largely unknown, we evaluated the humoral immune response in rats with bilateral lesion of the striatum caused by quinolinic acid, which destroys MSP neurons. Sham-operated rats and those with striatal lesions were immunized either with TNP-LPS, a T-independent antigen type 1, or one of several T-dependent antigens: ovoalbumin, bovine serum albumin, lysozyme, sheep red blood cells (SRBC) or outer membrane proteins (OMP) of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The specific levels of serum IgM and IgG, as well as intestinal IgA antibodies were determined either by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or a haemagglutination assay 5 or 7 days after immunization. Our results show that the lesion of striatal MSP neurons attenuated the primary antibody response to the T-independent antigen type 1 (TNP-LPS), but increased the antibody response to T-dependent antigens (proteins, SRBC and OMP), indicating that the striatal neurons modulate the humoral immune response in rats. The mechanisms involved are probably related to a reduction in both the number of B cells and the expression of caveolin-1 in the spleen, as well as an increase in the number of CD4+ T cells and in corticosterone levels of the serum.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20-28
Number of pages9
JournalImmunology Letters
Volume120
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 Sep 2008

Keywords

  • CD4 T cells
  • Caveolin-1
  • Corticosterone
  • GABAergic neurons
  • Humoral immune response
  • Striatum
  • T-dependent antigen
  • T-independent antigens

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