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Alterations in Immune Function in Rats Caused by Dietary Lipotrope Deficiency: Effect of Age¹

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139

Weanling male Sprague-Dawley rats were maintained on a control (C), folacin-deficient (F) or marginal methionine-choline diet (M/C) for 3 weeks, 3 months or 12 months. The immunocompetence of the animals was determined by in vivo (response to infection with Salmonella typhimurium) and in vitro (lymphocyte transformation assay) methods. It was found that young animals were most sensitive to dietary lipotrope deficiency, and the in vivo response to bacterial infection did not always correlate with in vitro assessment of immune function. Histopathologic examination of spleens from S. typhimurium-infected rats maintained for 3 weeks on the experimental diets showed an overall decreased cellularity especially in the follicular area, compared to controls. No differences were seen in the spleens of infected animals at later time points. A short-term (3-week) lipotrope deficiency resulted in a depressed lymphocyte transformation response to concanavalin A (Con A) in the spleen, thymus and lymph nodes; to phytohemagglutinin A (PHA) in the spleen and lymph nodes only. After 3 months on the F or M/C diets, a depressed Con A-induced transformation response was still seen in the spleen, but the normal aging-induced immunosuppression resulted in a low response in all animals, with few significant differences existing among groups.

KEY WORDS: • immunocompetence • lipotrope • folacin • methionine-choline

¹ This investigation was supported by Public Health Service Grant No. 5R22-HDO6917 awarded by the National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services.

² Present address: State University of New York Uptate Medical Center, College of Medicine, Syracuse, NY 13210.

³ Present address: St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63103.

Manuscript received 13 April 1982.