The Research On The Improving Effects Of Chicken Essence On Immune Function Of Restraint Stressed Mice

Objective:To investigate the protective effects of BEC(Brands Essence of Chicken) on immune function in mice loaded with restraint stress.Methods:(1)The changes of spleen and thymus index, the total number of spleen and thymus lymphocytes as well as the activity of NK cells in the spleen of mice sacrificed 0,3,5, 7 and 10 days after restraint stress were observed and compared.(2) In order to study the effects of BEC on immune system in restraint stressed mice, KM mice were randomly divided into 4 groups with 7 mice each group:normal control group, restraint control group, BEC-L (12 ml/kg) group and BEC-H (24 ml/kg)group. All mice were restraint for 18 h except normal group. All mice were sacrificed 3 days after restraint. The index of immune organs, the total number of spleen and thymus lymphocytes, the subsets of lymphocytes Th(CD3+CD4+) and Ts(CD3+CD8+) in spleen and thymus, the activity of NK cells in the spleen were investigated.(3) KM mice were randomly divided into 5 groups with 10 mice each group:normal control group, restraint control group and RU486 (GR antagonist) group, BEC-L group and BEC-H group. All mice were restraint for 18 h except normal group. All mice were sacrificed 3 days after restraint. Blood was distilled and spleens were received to prepare lymphocytes for testing spleen index, total number of spleen lymphocytes, the content of plasma corticosterone, mitochondrion membrane potential (△Ψmt), the contents of CytC in mitochondrion and cytoplasma, the expression of GR, Bax and Bcl-2 mRNAs in spleen lymphocytes.Results:(1) The results showed that, after restraint stress, the spleen and thymus index, the total number of spleen and thymus lymphocytes obviously decreased, and the activity of NK cells in the spleen significantly decreased, indicating the suppressive effect of restraint stress on immune system of mice especially 3 days after restraint. (2) BEC-L and BEC-H could significantly elevate the index of immune organs and the total number of spleen and thymus lymphocytes in restraint stressed mice. BEC-L and BEC-H could obviously elevate the percentage of Th(CD3+CD4+) and reduce the percentage of Ts(CD3+CD8+) in spleen lymphocytes of stressed mice, resulting in the increase of Th/Ts ratios which indicated the recovery of immune function in spleen of stressed mice. BEC-H could obviously reduce the percentages of both Th and Ts in thymus of stressed mice, resulting in the recovery of immune function in thymus of stressed mice. BEC-H could also increasethe activity of NK cells in the spleen. All these results indicated the recovery effects of BEC on immune function.(3) It is showed BEC and RU486 and significantly elevated spleen index and the total number of spleen lymphocytes. BEC also obviously reduced the content of plasma corticosterone in restraint mice. RT-PCR analysis showed BEC and RU486 could markedly up-regulate the expression of GR and Bcl-2 mRNAs, down-regulate the expression of Bax mRNA in spleen lymphocytes of stressed mice. Significantly, reduced mitochondrion membrane potential (△Ψmt) in spleen lymphocytes was elevated when treated with BEC and RU486. Moreover, BEC and RU486 recovered the contents of CytC mitochondrion and cytoplasm in stressed mice. all the above demonstrated that BEC could inhibit the stress-induced apoptosis of lymphocytes in spleen.Conclusion:BEC had obvious anti-stress effects on the function of immune system. The mechanism may be related with its regulation on neuroendocrine system.Novel points:This study firstly investigated and analyzed the effects of BEC on immune function of restraint stressed mice. Moreover, the effects of BEC on immune function were found to relate with the activity of BEC on neuroendocrine system.