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

This Article Full Text 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 Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by ten Bruggencate, S. J. M. Articles by Woodward, B. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by ten Bruggencate, S. J. M. Articles by Woodward, B. D.

---

Research Communication

The Proportion of CD45RA⁺CD62L⁺ (Quiescent-Phenotype) T Cells within the CD8⁺ Subset Increases in Advanced Weight Loss in the Protein- or Energy-Deficient Weanling Mouse¹

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

²To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wwoodwar{at}uoguelph.ca

Male and female C57BL/6J mice, initially 19 d old, had free access to a complete purified diet, were fed this diet in restricted daily quantities, or had free access to a low-protein diet. Three separate studies were conducted with feeding periods of 14, 9 or 6 d (n = 7–8 per dietary group and feeding period; 6 d: restricted intake and age-matched controls only). A zero-time control group (19 d old) was included in each study. Malnourished mice lost 2% of initial body weight daily. Naïve-phenotype (quiescent) CD8⁺ T cells of the blood, spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes were identified on the basis of surface coexpression of CD45RA and CD62L. Relative to age-matched controls, the percentage of naïve-phenotype CD8⁺ T cells was high in energy-restricted groups after 9 d and 14 d of weight loss and in the protein-restricted groups after 14 d (P 0.05). No ontogenetic change was apparent (age-matched vs. zero-time control). Other studies have demonstrated depression in cell-mediated immune competence in both malnutrition models within the first week of weight loss. An overabundance of quiescent-phenotype T cells within the involuted CD8⁺ compartment may contribute to established immune depression but not to its initiation in weight loss pathologies.

KEY WORDS: • mice • T cell • blood • spleen • lymph node