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Psychological stress increases human T cell apoptosis in vitro
Shotaro Sakami1, Akinori Nakata, Takashi Yamamura
1Department of Immunology, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan.
Objectives:
Recent studies have shown that apoptosis is involved in stress responses. The present study examined if stressors increase in vitro apoptosis of peripheral blood T lymphocytes in a dose-dependent manner.
Methods:
Daily subjective stress was quantitatively analyzed in 40 nonsmoking men with a daily hassles questionnaire. Apoptosis of T lymphocytes was measured by flowcytometry using Annexin V/PI double staining method after 0, 12, and 24 h of culture in the presence or absence of dexamethasone (DEX). Using a cross-sectional design, the current study examined the relationship between stress and in vitro apoptosis of T cells.
Results:
Results showed that apoptosis of T lymphocytes in vitro has a significant correlation with stress and age. Stress was positively correlated with percentage of apoptosis in T cells after 12 h of culture, irrespective of DEX treatment. Age was positively correlated with the percentage of T cell apoptosis after 0 and 12 h of coculture with DEX.
Conclusions:
These results indicate that age-related apoptosis and stress-related apoptosis of T cells are modulated through different mechanisms. This is the first study to show that in vitro lymphocyte apoptosis is influenced by daily stress in a dose-dependent manner.