QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lee, W.-H. Articles by Woodward, B. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lee, W.-H. Articles by Woodward, B. D.

The CD4/CD8 Ratio in the Blood Does Not Reflect the Response of This Index in Secondary Lymphoid Organs of Weanling Mice in Models of Protein-Energy Malnutrition Known to Depress Thymus-Dependent Immunity^1,2,

Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1

A low ratio of cellular numbers within CD4⁺ (helper/inducer) relative to CD8⁺ (suppressor/cytotoxic) thymic lymphocyte subsets (low CD4/CD8 ratio) is widely accepted as fundamental to the depression in thymus-dependent immunocompetence associated with wasting protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). The objective of this investigation, therefore, was to determine the CD4/CD8 ratio in peripheral lymphoid compartments of diverse murine models of proteinenergy malnutrition which produce systemic wasting (loss of 1.8% of inital body weight per day), lymphoid involution and (as shown in many previous studies) depression in thymus-dependent immunocompetence. In the first of two experiments, male and female weanling mice of disparate inbred strains, CBA/J and C57BL/6J, were allocated to a zero-time control group (23- and 19-d-old, respectively), or to groups fed for 14 d as follows: ad libitum intake of a complete purified diet (19% crude protein, 17 kJ/g gross energy), restricted intake of the complete diet, or ad libitum intake of an isocaloric low protein diet (0.6% crude protein). In a supplementary experiment, male and female C57BL/6J weanling mice were fed the complete diet or the low protein diet for either 6 or 21 d. CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ thymic lymphocytes were enumerated by flow cytometry in mononuclear cell suspensions from blood, spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes. A low CD4/CD8 ratio is common in the blood in wasting protein-energy malnutrition, but appears uncharacteristic of the profoundly involuted lymphoid organs which generate acquired immune responses. The CD4/CD8 ratio is irrelevant to the thymus-dependent immunoincompetence previously demonstrated in the rodent models used in this investigation.

KEY WORDS: • mice • lymphocytes • protein-energy malnutrition • immunity • spleen

¹ Supported by individual operating grants to B.D.W. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Nutricia Research Foundation (Holland).

² The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

³ To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 17 August 1995. Revision accepted 2 January 1996.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. M. Hillyer and B. Woodward Interleukin-10 concentration determined by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is unrepresentative of bioactivity in murine blood Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, December 1, 2003; 285(6): R1514 - R1519. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]