Jerrells T R, Marietta C A, Weight F F, Eckardt M J
Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77550.
Int J Immunopharmacol. 1990;12(4):435-42. doi: 10.1016/0192-0561(90)90027-k.
The alterations in lymphoid cell numbers and lymphocyte function due to administration of ethanol was found to be associated with high levels of circulating corticosteroids. The role of corticosteroids in the ethanol-induced alterations in the immune system was studied by administering ethanol to adrenalectomized rats. The results of these experiments showed that the ethanol-induced loss of cells from the thymus was not completely prevented by adrenalectomy and the ethanol-induced loss of cells from the spleen was not affected by adrenalectomy. Likewise the ethanol-induced decrease in antibody production to the T-cell-dependent antigen sheep erythrocytes were not affected by adrenalectomy. The ability of animals to produce antibodies of the T-cell-independent antigen, TNP-Ficoll, was not affected by ethanol regardless of whether the animals had adrenal glands or not. These data indicate that adrenal corticosteroids are responsible for some but not all of the thymic involution due to ethanol intoxication. Also, adrenalectomized rats did not show as much impairment in lymphocyte proliferation as sham adrenalectomized animals after ethanol administration. However, this loss of cells from peripheral lymphoid organs such as the spleen and the decreased ability to respond to T-cell-dependent antigens is not influenced by adrenalectomy indicating mechanisms other than corticosteroids mediate these effects of ethanol.
研究发现，因摄入乙醇导致的淋巴细胞数量和淋巴细胞功能改变与循环皮质类固醇激素水平升高有关。通过给肾上腺切除的大鼠喂食乙醇，研究了皮质类固醇激素在乙醇诱导的免疫系统改变中的作用。这些实验结果表明，肾上腺切除术不能完全阻止乙醇诱导的胸腺细胞丢失，且肾上腺切除术不影响乙醇诱导的脾细胞丢失。同样，肾上腺切除术也不影响乙醇诱导的针对T细胞依赖性抗原绵羊红细胞的抗体产生减少。无论动物是否有肾上腺，动物产生非T细胞依赖性抗原TNP - 菲可的抗体的能力都不受乙醇影响。这些数据表明，肾上腺皮质类固醇激素是乙醇中毒导致部分而非全部胸腺退化的原因。此外，乙醇给药后，肾上腺切除的大鼠淋巴细胞增殖受损程度不如假肾上腺切除的动物。然而，脾等外周淋巴器官细胞的这种丢失以及对T细胞依赖性抗原反应能力的降低不受肾上腺切除术影响，这表明除皮质类固醇激素外，还有其他机制介导乙醇的这些作用。
