Lindberg R E, Frenkel J K
Infect Immun. 1977 Mar;15(3):855-62. doi: 10.1128/iai.15.3.855-862.1977.
The inhibitory effects of cortisol on cellular immunity were studied in vitro by using hamster peritoneal exudate cells. Two obligate, intracellular protozoa--Toxoplasma gondii and Besnoitia jellisoni-- were used to control for specificity of effects. Results indicate that immune lymphocytes specifically confer immunity to (or "arm") macrophages that specifically express immunity. This arming can be inhibited by 5 microng of cortisol per ml. Macrophages that have been armed already will continue to express immunity (by limiting parasite growth specifically) in the presence of 5 microng of cortisol per ml. Cortisol levels of 20 microng/ml are required to inhibit the expression of immunity by armed macrophages. It was also found that lymphocytes, from hamsters given 20 mg of cortisol subcutaneously 2 days before the harvest of cells, did not arm macrophages, whereas macrophages from these same animals could be armed by immune lymphocytes from untreated hamsters. Therefore, it was concluded that in relation to cellular immunity, lymphocytes are more sensitive to cortisol than are macrophages. Since antibody to these parasites is almost always present in vivo, we also tested the effects of cortisol on the disposition of antibody-modified organisms by activated (not armed) macrophages, and found that 50 microng of cortisol per ml was needed to inhibit macrophage effects on antibody-treated organisms.
通过使用仓鼠腹腔渗出细胞在体外研究了皮质醇对细胞免疫的抑制作用。使用两种专性细胞内原生动物——刚地弓形虫和杰氏贝斯诺虫——来控制作用的特异性。结果表明，免疫淋巴细胞特异性地赋予特异性表达免疫的巨噬细胞免疫力（或“武装”）。每毫升5微克的皮质醇可抑制这种武装。在每毫升存在5微克皮质醇的情况下，已经被武装的巨噬细胞将继续表达免疫力（通过特异性限制寄生虫生长）。需要20微克/毫升的皮质醇水平来抑制被武装的巨噬细胞的免疫表达。还发现，在收获细胞前2天皮下注射20毫克皮质醇的仓鼠的淋巴细胞不能武装巨噬细胞，而来自这些相同动物的巨噬细胞可以被未处理仓鼠的免疫淋巴细胞武装。因此，得出结论，就细胞免疫而言，淋巴细胞比巨噬细胞对皮质醇更敏感。由于体内几乎总是存在针对这些寄生虫的抗体，我们还测试了皮质醇对活化（未武装）巨噬细胞处理抗体修饰生物体的影响，发现每毫升50微克的皮质醇才能抑制巨噬细胞对抗体处理生物体的作用。
