Abstract
There is accumulating evidence to support the interactions between psychological stress and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In order to elucidate the relationship between psycoimmunological stress and IBD, we examined the alteration of immune system during the disease course of experimental Ulcerative colitis(UC)-model induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). When C57BL/6 mice were treated with 4.5% DSS, they developed progressive weight loss. In contrast, the same treatment applied to BALB/c mice led to a small weight loss from which they soon recovered. Surprisingly, we found significant involution of the thymus and a reduction in the number of double positive thymocytes in DSS-treated C57BL/6 mice but not in DSS-treated BALB/c mice. Double negative thymocytes, especially DN1 (CD25-CD44+) and DN2 (CD25+CD44+) thymocytes, were relatively upregulated. The weights of spleens were slightly increased in both C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice following oral administration of DSS. In C57BL/6 spleens, both CD4 and CD8 single positive T cells gradually decreased (day 3), then recovered (day 14) after treatment. Because oral administration causes starvation, we examined the effects of starvation on the thymus and spleen. Although involution of thymus was observed both in starvation and DSS-treatment, the weight of spleen was reduced only in starvation. Also, the population changes in thymocytes in starvation was different from DSS-treatment. The administration of the steroid inhibitor RU486 partially reversed the thymic involution in C57BL/6 mice, thus DSS-treated UC might induce psycoimmunological changes partly through hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blumberg, R. S., L. J. Saubermann, and W. Strober. 1999. Animal models of mucosal inflammation and their relation to human inflammatory bowel disease. Curr. Opin. Immunol. 11:648–656 doi:10.1016/S0952-7915(99)00032-1.
Blumberg, R. S., and W. Strober. 2001. Prospects for research in inflammatory bowel disease. JAMA 285:643–647 doi:10.1001/jama.285.5.643.
Fiocchi, C. 1998. Inflammatory bowel disease: etiology and pathogenesis. Gastroenterology 115:182–205.
Lerebours, E., C. Gower-Rousseau, V. Merle et al. 2007. Stressful life events as a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease onset: a population-based case-control study. Am. J. Gastroenterol. 102:122–131 doi:10.1111/j.1572-0241.2006.00931.x.
Kubera, M., A. Basta-Kaim, V. Holan, A. Simbirtsev et al. 1998. Effect of mild chronic stress, as a model of depression, on the immunoreactivity of C57BL/6 mice. Int. J. Immunopharmacol. 20:781–789 doi:10.1016/S0192-0561(98)00050-2.
Murray, M., H. R. Lallman, A. D. Heard, M. B. Rittenberg et al. 2001. A genetic model of stress displays decreased lymphocytes and impaired antibody responses without altered susceptibility to Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Immunol. 167:691–698.
Dominguez-Gerpe, L., and M. Rey-Mendez. 1997. Time-course of the murine lymphoid tissue involution during and following stressor exposure. Life Sci. 61:1019–1027 doi:10.1016/S0024-3205(97)00606-1.
Okayasu, I., S. Hatakeyama, T. Ohkusa et al. 1990. A novel method in the induction of reliable experimental acute and chronic ulcerative colitis in mice. Gastroenterology 98:694–702.
Suzuki, R., H. Kohno et al. 2006. Strain differences in the susceptibility to azoxymethane and dextran sodium sulfate-induced colon carcinogenesis in mice. Carcinogenesis 27:162–169 doi:10.1093/carcin/bgi205.
Ishida, K., S. Takai, M. Murano et al. 2008. Role of chymase-dependent matrix metalloproteinase-9 activation in mice with dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 324:422–42 6 doi:10.1124/jpet.107.131946.
Smythe, P. M. et al. 1971. Thymolymphatic deficiency and depression of cell-mediated immunity in protein-calorie malnutrition. Lancet. 2:939–943 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(71)90267-4.
Martinez, D., S. Cox, O. A. Lukassewycz, and W. H. Murphy. 1975. Immune mechanisms in leukemia: suppression of cellular immunity by starvation. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 55:935–939.
Chandra, R. K. 1991. Nutrition and immunity: lessons from the past and new insights into the future. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 53:1087–101.
Watts, T. 1969. Thymus weights in malnourished children. J. Trop. Pediatr. 15:155–158.
Ahima, R. S. et al. 1996. Role of leptin in the neuroendocrine response to fasting. Nature 382:250–252 doi:10.1038/382250a0.
Howard, J. K., G. M. Load et al. 1999. Leptin protects mice from starvation-induced lymphoid atrophy and increases thymic cellularity in ob/ob mice. J. Clin. Invest. 104:1051–1059 doi:10.1172/JCI6762.
Dominguez-Gerpe, L., and M. Rey-Mendez. 1997. Time-course of the murine lymphoid tissue involution during and following stressor exposure. Life Sci. 61:1019–1027.
Shanker, A. 2004. Is thymus redundant after adulthood? Immunol. Lett. 91:79–86 doi:10.1016/j.imlet.2003.12.012.
Tarcic, N., H. Ovadia, D. W. Weiss, and J. Weidenfeld. 1998. Restraint stress-induced thymic involution and cell apoptosis are dependent on endogenous glucocorticoids. J. Neuroimmunol. 82:40–46 doi:10.1016/S0165-5728(97)00186-0.
Zhang, Y. H., K. Takahashi, G. Z. Jiang, M. Kawai, M. Fukada, and T. Yokochi. 1993. In vivo induction of apoptosis (programmed cell death) in mouse thymus by administration of lipopolysaccharide. Infect. Immun. 61:5044–5048.
Mähler, M., I. J. Bristol, E. H. Leiter, A. E. Workman, E. H. Birkenmeier, C. O. Elson et al. 1998. Differential susceptibility of inbred mouse strains to dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis. Am. J. Physiol. 274:G544–G551.
Ghia, J. E., P. Blennerhassett, R. T. El-Sharkawy, and S. M. Collins. 2007. The protective effect of the vagus nerve in a murine model of chronic relapsing colitis. Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 293:G711–G718 doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00240.2007.
Taylor, C. T., and S. J. Keely. 2007. The autonomic nervous system and inflammatory bowel disease. Auton. Neurosci. 133:104–114 doi:10.1016/j.autneu.2006.11.005.
McGrath, J., J. W. McDonald, and J. K. Macdonald. 2004. Transdermal nicotine for induction of remission in ulcerative colitis. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 18. review.
Tsuchiya, M., T. Hibi, M. Watanabe, M. Ohara, H. Ogata, Y. Iwao et al. 1991. Thymectomy in ulcerative colitis: a report of cases over a 13 year period. Thymus. 17:67–73.
Asano, M., M. Toda, N. Sakaguchi, and S. Sakaguchi. 1996. Autoimmune disease as a consequence of developmental abnormality of a T cell subpopulation. J. Exp. Med. 184:387 doi:10.1084/jem.184.2.387.
Kyewski, B., and L. Klein. 2006. A central role for central tolerance. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 24:571–606 doi:10.1146/annurev.immunol.23.021704.115601.
Bonasio, R., M. L. Scimone, P. Schaerli, N. Grabie, A. H. Lichtman, and U. H. von Andrian. 2006. Clonal deletion of thymocytes by circulating dendritic cells homing to the thymus. Nat. Immunol. 7:1092–1100 doi:10.1038/ni1385.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sasaki, S., Ishida, Y., Nishio, N. et al. Thymic Involution Correlates with Severe Ulcerative Colitis Induced by Oral Administration of Dextran Sulphate Sodium in C57BL/6 Mice but not in BALB/c Mice. Inflammation 31, 319–328 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-008-9081-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-008-9081-3