The Expression And Roles Of IL-2 And Its Receptor In The Brain And Pituitary

Interleukin-2 is one of the important molecules involved in the regulating of immune system functions. It was showed that the CNS functions and pituitary hormones secretion could be influenced by IL-2 in recent reports. For examples, IL-2 may plays some roles in affecting the proliferation of neuron and neuroglia, the releasing of some neurotransmitters, the activity of biological electricity, and may be involved in the functions, such as sleeping, memory, locomotion and central analgesia. The server changes of neuroendocrine system functions which induced by recombinant IL-2 used for treatment of tumor patient, are one of the reasons preventing IL-2 being applied extensively in clinical. So, it is suggested that IL-2 may be an important member in neuro-endocrine-immune network.IL-2 is mainly produced in activated T cells and could be released into blood from them in vivo. The half-life of IL-2 is very short, less than 10 min in peripheral blood. Some non-lymphocytes can also synthesize IL-2. For instance, there are IL-2 like activities in some regions of brain. And there are IL-2 expression in some human pituitary adenomas, but it is unknown whether IL-2 is expressed in normal pituitary.IL-2 play its roles through interacting with specific membrane-associated receptors. The high affinity IL-2R is composed of multiple subunits, α, β and γ. It is reported that only IL-2Rα which binds IL-2 with low affinity and with no signal transducing activity, is localized in the rat brain and anterior pituitary. So, it is the basis to analysis the actions of IL-2 influencing the neuroendocrine functions, whether the subunit β and γ are expressed in the brain and pituitary.In this experiment, the following was studied systematically: the expression and localization of IL-2 and IL-2Rα ,β,γ in the rat brain and pituitary; the concrete anterior pituitary cell subpopulation expressing IL-2 and IL-2Rα,β,γ; the influence of changes of hormones secreted by peripheral gland including ovary, testis and adrenal gland in blood, on the expression of IL-2 and IL-2Rα,β,γ in the anterior pituitary. The affections and its intracellular mechanisms of IL-2 on...