Kelley K W, Mertsching H J, Salmon H
Ann Rech Vet. 1984;15(2):201-4.
An intriguing and important biological question is how the immune system is subject to regulation by exogenous factors. In the mouse system, our laboratory has demonstrated that a wide variety of environmental stimuli, such as heat, cold, short-term restraint and conditioned-taste aversions, affect cell-mediated immune events in vivo. The reduction in cell-mediated immunity that is caused by restraint can be abolished by adrenalectomy or treatment with an inhibitor of corticosterone biosynthesis. We have therefore examined the effect of a short-term restraint stressor on the immune system of pigs. Five-to-eight-week-old-pigs were restrained by placing them in an expanded-metal box for 2 h each day for 3 consecutive days. Restraint caused a significant increase in serum cortisol. Preliminary evidence indicates that restraint significantly reduced size of the thymus gland from 0.14% to 0.10% of body weight and also significantly reduced in vivo phytohemagglutinin-stimulated, cell-mediated reactions by 25%. Addition of cortisol at a concentration of 130 ng/ml to phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A-stimulated porcine lymphocytes in vitro reduced mitogenesis of splenocytes, peripheral blood lymphocytes and thymocytes. Although these data reflect changes in immune function caused by an acute environmental stressor in vivo and by cortisol in vitro, research from another laboratory indicates that longer-term restriction of pigs with tethers and farrowing crates can also decrease immune events.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
一个引人关注且重要的生物学问题是免疫系统如何受到外源性因素的调节。在小鼠系统中，我们实验室已证明，多种环境刺激，如热、冷、短期束缚和条件性味觉厌恶，会在体内影响细胞介导的免疫反应。束缚导致的细胞介导免疫反应降低可通过肾上腺切除术或用皮质酮生物合成抑制剂处理来消除。因此，我们研究了短期束缚应激源对猪免疫系统的影响。将5至8周龄的猪每天置于金属网箱中束缚2小时，连续3天。束缚导致血清皮质醇显著升高。初步证据表明，束缚使胸腺大小从体重的0.14%显著降至0.10%，并使体内植物血凝素刺激的细胞介导反应显著降低25%。在体外向植物血凝素和伴刀豆球蛋白A刺激的猪淋巴细胞中添加浓度为130 ng/ml的皮质醇，会降低脾细胞、外周血淋巴细胞和胸腺细胞的有丝分裂活性。尽管这些数据反映了体内急性环境应激源和体外皮质醇引起的免疫功能变化，但另一个实验室的研究表明，长期用绳索和产仔箱限制猪的活动也会减少免疫反应。（摘要截选至250词）
