Effects of norepinephrine on immune functions of cultured splenic lymphocytes exposed to aluminum trichloride.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of norepinephrine (NE) on spleen lymphocytes exposed to aluminum trichloride (AlCl3). In this experiment, lymphocytes were isolated from spleens of healthy Wistar rats weighing about 130 g and cultured with RPMI-1640 medium containing the final concentration of 0.552 mmol/L AlCl3. NE was added to the cultured cells at the final concentrations of 0 (control group), 0.1 (low-dose group), 1 (mid-dose group), and 10 (high-dose group) nmol/L. No addition of both AlCl3 and NE serviced as blank (BG). The T lymphocyte proliferation; the contents of IL-2, TNF-α, and T lymphocyte subsets; immunoglobulin G (IgG) and intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) concentrations; and β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) density were measured at the end of the culture. The result showed that NE decreased T lymphocyte proliferation and the contents of IL-2, TNF-α, and T lymphocyte subsets whereas increased the concentrations of IgG and intracellular cAMP and β2-AR density of the lymphocyte exposed to AlCl3. AlCl3 exposure without adding NE showed the similar impacts on these measures compared with BG. The results suggested that NE aggravated AlCl3 immunotoxicity on the lymphocytes and disordered the immune functions of the lymphocyte through the β2-AR-cAMP signal pathway.