Age-related changes in interleukin production in BALB/cNNia and SJL/J mice and their modification after

R Gorczynski1, S Dubiski, P G Munder

  • 1Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Canada.

Immunology Letters
|November 1, 1993
PubMed

In vitro production of Interleukin-2, -3, -4 and -10 by activated lymphocytes of BALB/cNNia and SJL/J was studied. While IL-2 production in BALB/c mice remains constant throughout the life span of the animals (8-113 weeks), an increase in production from stimulated SJL cells was seen. Age-related increases in IL-3 and IL-4 production occur between young and middle age (8-60 weeks) in both strains. Some organ differences in quantity of lymphokine produced were seen; the direction of age-related changes was the same for lymphocytes of spleen and MLN. The exceptional feature of BALB/cNNia was the relative stabilization of the levels of interleukin production, as animals approach old age. BALB/cNNia and SJL, which are at the two opposite extremes of lifespan, differ also in their response to molecular interventions: in BALB/cNNia fetal sheep liver extract and hemocyanin increase the output of interleukins. This is in striking contrast to the effects observed in older SJL mice in which the extract reduced the output of IL-3 and IL-4 by old animals, whereas hemocyanin increased the output of IL-2 and IL-3 at all ages tested.

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