Parker C R, Conway-Myers B A
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35233-7333, USA.
Endocr Res. 1998 May;24(2):113-26. doi: 10.1080/07435809809135522.
Administration of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) to female rats produces a condition of reproductive failure and ovarian cysts similar to that seen in women having polycystic ovarian disease. On the other hand, DHEA may have beneficial effects on the immune system. We sought to determine the effect of DHEA, when administered in pharmacological amounts, on the thymus and spleen of prepubertal (25 day old) and young adult (60 day old) female rats. Since the adrenal, by means of its production of corticosteroids, also is known to modulate the immune system, we also evaluated the effects of DHEA administration on this gland. The daily SC administration of DHEA (6 mg/100g BW) to young adult female rats led to progressive and striking reductions in thymic weights (greater than 85% suppression after 20 days compared to vehicle treated animals). There were no effects of DHEA on body weights or the weights of the spleen. DHEA treatment also led to significantly reduced weights of the adrenals , which was sustained at about 15-20% below normal over 5-20 days treatment. Ovariectomy of the rats 5 days before initiation of DHEA or vehicle treatment gave rise to significant increases in thymic and spleenic weights in control animals and strikingly blunted the inhibitory effects of DHEA treatment for 10 days on the thymus; DHEA had no effect on the ovariectomy-induced rise in the weight of the spleen. Ovariectomy also had no effect on the inhibitory effects of DHEA on adrenal weight. Similar, albeit quantitatively less striking, responses were noted to occur after DHEA treatment in immature female rats. These data indicate that DHEA in doses sufficient to interfere with ovarian cyclicity also has potentially adverse effects on the adrenal and thymus. The ovary appears to play an independent role in maintenance of the size of the thymus and spleen and also may mediate some of the effects of DHEA on the thymus but not those on the adrenals.
给雌性大鼠注射脱氢表雄酮（DHEA）会导致生殖功能衰竭和卵巢囊肿，这与患有多囊卵巢疾病的女性的情况相似。另一方面，DHEA可能对免疫系统有有益作用。我们试图确定以药理剂量给药的DHEA对青春期前（25日龄）和年轻成年（60日龄）雌性大鼠的胸腺和脾脏的影响。由于肾上腺通过产生皮质类固醇也已知会调节免疫系统，我们还评估了给药DHEA对该腺体的影响。每天给年轻成年雌性大鼠皮下注射DHEA（6mg/100g体重）导致胸腺重量逐渐显著降低（与接受载体处理的动物相比，20天后抑制率大于85%）。DHEA对体重或脾脏重量没有影响。DHEA治疗还导致肾上腺重量显著降低，在5至20天的治疗期间，肾上腺重量持续比正常水平低约15 - 20%。在开始DHEA或载体治疗前5天对大鼠进行卵巢切除术，导致对照动物的胸腺和脾脏重量显著增加，并显著减弱了DHEA治疗10天对胸腺的抑制作用；DHEA对卵巢切除引起的脾脏重量增加没有影响。卵巢切除术对DHEA对肾上腺重量的抑制作用也没有影响。在未成熟雌性大鼠中进行DHEA治疗后也观察到了类似的反应，尽管在数量上不那么显著。这些数据表明，足以干扰卵巢周期性的剂量的DHEA对肾上腺和胸腺也有潜在的不利影响。卵巢似乎在维持胸腺和脾脏大小方面发挥独立作用，并且也可能介导DHEA对胸腺的一些作用，但不是对肾上腺的作用。
