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Occurrence of adrenergic nerve fibers and of noradrenaline in thymus gland of juvenile and aged rats.
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Effect of interleukin 1 beta on rat thymus microenvironment
No full textThe effect of interleukin 1beta on the thymus of control and chemically sympathectomized adult and aged rats was studied with the aim of assessing the importance of adrenergic nerve fibres (ANF) in the regulation of some immunological functions. The whole thymus was removed from normal, sympathectomized (with the neurotoxin 6-OH-dopamine) and treated (interleukin 1beta) rats. Thymic slices were stained with eosin orange (for the recognition of microanatomical details of the thymic microenvironment) and with Bodian's method for staining of nerve fibres. Histofluorescence microscopy was employed for staining ANF and immunofluorescence was used for detecting NPY-like immunoreactivity. All images were submitted to quantitative morphometrical analysis and statistical analysis of data. Moreover, the amount of proteins and noradrenaline was measured on thymic homogenates. The results indicate that in normal conditions the formation of the thymic nerve plexi in the rat is complex: the majority of ANF are destroyed after chemical sympathectomy with 6-OH-dopamine and do not change after treatment with interleukin 1beta; on the contrary, treatment with interleukin 1beta induces substantial changes in the fresh weight of the thymus, the thymic microenvironment, thymic nerve fibers, ANF, NPY-like positive nerve fibres, and on the total amount of proteins and noradrenaline in rat thymic tissue homogenates. Immunostimulation with interleukin 1beta induces substantial changes in the whole thymus, in its microenvironment and in ANF and NPY-like nerve fibres. After chemical sympathectomy, no significant immune response was evoked by interleukin 1beta, since the majority of ANF was destroyed by chemical sympathectomy
Cholinergic staining of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue
No full textThe cholinergic staining of human bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) was studied in humans. Morsels of the human lung (containing BALT) were harvested, after having obtained the appropriate approvals, during autopsies in 24 human subjects. The samples were stained by means of the enzymatic technique of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and/or the monoclonal immunohistochemical method of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). A morphometrical analysis was performed by means of quantitative analysis of images and statistical analyses of the data. AChE and proteins were also measured by biochemical assay. Our results demonstrate that both AChE and ChAT are localized in the BALT of young and old humans. These enzymes undergo age-related changes. The biochemical values of AChE are as follows: 22.3 +/- 2.5 international units in young subjects and 78.5 +/- 1.9 international units in old ones. The morphometrical values of AChE confirm the biochemical ones. The morphometrical data for ChAT are 31.6 +/- 1.4 conventional units in young subjects and 71.2 +/- 1.5 conventional units in old ones. Further results are needed to draw definite conclusions concerning the location and the distribution of these two enzymatic activities in BALT. In our opinion, the presence of AChE and ChAT in BALT can be both 'non-neuronal', with a role in general metabolism, and/or 'neuronal' with a role in neuroimmunomodulation.
Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
I fondi archivistici personali, la corrispondenza e la ricerca sul cinema. Il caso del carteggio tra Elio Petri e Leonardo Sciascia
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